17 pages 34 minutes read

Claude McKay

If We Must Die

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1919

A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.

Poem Analysis

Analysis: “If We Must Die”

Central to “If We Must Die” is McKay’s vague, allegorical language. Though it is easy to read the poem as a response to the race riots of 1919 and the general struggle of African Americans against a racist country, McKay was adamant that the poem is not about a particular race or instance of injustice; instead, he claimed the poem concerns all injustice and oppression. This makes sense considering the unspecified “we” in the poem who struggle against the vague “they.” Because of this lack of specificity, the poem became somewhat of a rallying cry for oppressed groups throughout the 20th century.

As Robert A. Lee argues, however, if a reader ignores this poem’s historical context so that it applies to anything, it risks losing the poem’s value (Lee, Robert A. “On Claude McKay’s ‘If We Must Die.CLA Journal, vol. 18, no. 2, Dec. 1974, pp. 216-21. JSTOR). Lee says that neglecting the poem’s commentary on the racial tension between white and Black Americans allows denial of “the urgency of the racial situation with which the poem is directly concerned; [it presupposes] slackness in the language of [the] poem” (221).

Related Titles

By Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

Home To Harlem

Claude McKay

Home To Harlem

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

Joy in the Woods

Claude McKay

Joy in the Woods

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

The Harlem Dancer

Claude McKay

The Harlem Dancer

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

The Lynching

Claude McKay

The Lynching

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

The Tropics in New York

Claude McKay

The Tropics in New York

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

The White House

Claude McKay

The White House

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

To One Coming North

Claude McKay

To One Coming North

Claude McKay

Study Guide

logo

When Dawn Comes to the City

Claude McKay

When Dawn Comes to the City

Claude McKay