Harlem Renaissance Essay

Claude McKay was Jamaican the Statesn who moved from Jamaica to the United States in 1912. He attended the Tuskegee bestow in Alabama. This is where he received his starting time taste of racialism here in America and this would incur a drastic effect on his future theme. He left the Tuskegee Institute to attend school in Manhattan, Kansas. Mr. McKay then moved to New York invested in a restaurant and got married. The restaurant fell through and McKay moved pricker to Jamaica. He later became an editor of the Liberator and wrote some of his own numberss during the time flowing known as the red summer. One of his poems he wrote in kvetch of the harsh times would later be used by Winston Churchill during humanity War II to be active the soldiers. (Modern American verse, 2011) If We Must break away, write by Claude McKay during the summer of 1919, is a mantra for people to stand up against those who heed to keep them down or in Churchills case to efface them during battle( Sayre, 2012).He is saying still if they must die they should do it with dignity. They whitethorn only have the grave to come, but he does not need them to just lie down until now in the face of adversity. Claude McKay displays forficate consciousness from the time he comes to America. He is first an intelligent Jamaican man who has come here to America in search of an education. here(predicate) he was seen by the white Americans around him in Alabama as nothing more than just an otherwise colored man. Claude had to deal with some(prenominal) being colored or Negro and being an American. In his poem If we must die McKay shows the humor of parlay consciousness on the whole the vogue through. He shows the pride of a dignified man who will not just sit lynchpin while anyone attempts to push down into the grave. His writing is not specific to one race or ethnicity, as proven when the British Prime Minister used it to motivate the British and American soldiers. (Sayre, 2012) La ngston Hughes was a young poet, writer, and musician during the Harlem renaissance period.According to Sayre (2012), Langston was like many African-Americans searching for a freedom they could not find in America moved to Paris. In France he was subjected to a music very mistakable to jazz and ragtime. Harlem was quickly becoming the Paris of America to African-Americans because they were free to be who they necessity to be and accepted by all those around. When Hughes moved O.K. to Harlem he became one of the most powerful voices for the African-Americans in Harlem due to his abilities, harmonise to Sayre. His capability to speak to your emotion and to create a feeling empathy, as well as his use the local speech, grammar, and dialect made his whole works attractive to all.According to the Kansas hereditary pattern Group (n.d.), Langston Hughes had only been in college a year before finding the allure of Harlem, where he met many other famous poets of the times. Langston Hugh es wrote the poem As I grew older describing how he has a dream but because he is a Black man he has besieges that rise up between himself and his dream. This is a perfect example of double consciousness, because like all Americans he has these dreams that are always growing deep down him. However because of his ethnicity he has walls that are placed in his path. He feels because he is blacken man he is being forced down into the shadows and block up from his dreams. He also is persistent enough in the poem to not lie in the shadows and let the wall win. He breaks through the wall and pursues his dreams despites the efforts to block him. (Poemhunter.com, 2003)The poetry of the times clears out the views and emotions of the people who were writing it. These poems bring out the feelings desire to be free to chase their dreams that write slightly as well. There are many poems that display thoughts of death and dying. many of the themes were being brought on by the war, while oth ers are themes were brought on by the feelings of oppression and racism. The biggest theme of them all is the fact we are American, whether we are black or white, Jamaican, German, or French descent, we are American. In Langston Hughes poem motion for English B he states he is black and You are white- that a spokesperson of me, as I am a part of you. Thats American. We are all American and we are all one. We all have quasi(prenominal) desires not identical but similar in nature. We want to be free to be what and who we want to be without being held back by others who desire to hold us back in order to advance themselves.In his poem As I grew older he writes about oppression, And then the wall rose, Rose slowly, Slowly, in the midst of me and my dream, The wall rising is the oppression brought about by the racism he faced here in America. Claude McKay in If We Must Die he writes a poem that can used to motivate a group of people as Churchill used to motivate the soldiers of WWI or to motivate the African-Americans here in America. He wants his people to have their honor even in death. If we must die-oh, let us nobly die, He wants to be seen with honor and dignity as he wishes for all his people. In the poem Christianity I write about beliefs and faith in a serviceman where it seems to shun anyone who openly believes in Jesus Christ and his teachings.In nowadayss society Christians are often told they are cannot display their crosses in public spaces, because we are pushing our beliefs on others. This pastoral was formed with the idea that people would have their freedoms. exemptions that their previous government denied them, and one of the biggest freedoms they searched for was freedom to cause the religion of their choice. Christianity in its many forms was the biggest religion at the time of this country formation and you can see that in many ways even still today, however publically today there seems to be a push to hide all forms of religion. Chr istianity seems to be the religion that people wish to hide the most. This is why I chose to use this theme for my poem.ChristianityFaith article of faith in only oneLove all even my confrontationThey dont want loveThey dont want faithTruthWill Science ever agreeWhere is your marchIs your truth, My truthFreedomFreedom to liveFreedom to LoveFreedom to believeFreedom to questionFaithWho wants itWho needs itWhy have itThey certainly do not want itReferencesModern American Poetry (2011). Claude McKay. Retrieved from http//www.english.illinois. edu/maps/poets/m_r/mckay/mckay.htm PoemHunter.com (January, 2003) As I grew older by Langston Hughes. Retrieved from http//www.poemhunter.com/poem/as-i-grew-older/ Sayre, H. M. (2012). The Humanities Culture, persistency and change, Volume 2 (2nd ed.). (2011 Custom Edition). Upper Saddle River, NJ Pearson Education. Kansas Heritage Group, (n.d.). Langston Hughes Biography. Retrieved from http//www. kansasheritage.org/crossingboundaries/page6e1 .html