"If We Must Die" by Claude McKay

If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,	5
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,	10
And for their thousand blows deal one deathblow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Consider McKay’s choice of this sonnet form to write in response to the race riots that broke out across several US cities in 1919. What do you think he achieves by using such an erudite form and such elevated language to describe events full of animal imagery and horror?

Examine a line that does not scan regularly and discuss how the break from expected patterns affects the meaning of the line.

What “turn” do you find in the ending lines of the sonnet? Looking at how the simile has changed may help.

Links

Claude McKay, "If We Must Die" (text of the poem with notes)
McKay on "If We Must Die"
Rhythms in Poetry: Claude McKay (1889–1948)