If We Must Die

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1919

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Poem Analysis

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Related Poems

“America” by Claude McKay (1921)

Another McKay sonnet dealing in allegory and metaphor, this poem is about the speaker’s relationship to a bigger concept. In this poem’s case, the concept is America and the speaker’s feelings about it. McKay again uses animals and inverted imagery along with some aspect of metamorphosis to show the power the two sides have. In this poem, the two sides are the two sides of America. The speaker appreciates America for the promise it represents, but they also acknowledge the dark side of America.

“Harlem” by Langston Hughes (1951)

Writing about Harlem and the promise it represented, Hughes asks what happens to a dream deferred, but his final question is, “[D]oes it explode?” (Line 11).

This is a famous Harlem poem because it asks a question that all of these poems ask, including “If We Must Die.” The question is how an oppressed group continues to fight for its rights and what happens when those rights are denied. Hughes asks whether all that passion denied will fade away or explode, and though he doesn’t answer the question, he implies the explosion will come. He does this through the structure of the end of the poem where he isolates the explosion and introduces it as a dramatic counter to all preceding lines.

“Yet Do I Marvel” by Countee Cullen (1925)

Another Harlem Renaissance poet, Countee Cullen rose to tremendous fame in the 1920s and fused the Black experience with the tradition and structure of “white” poetry. Cullen’s poems followed traditional rules and structures, yet he wrote about his experience as an African American. This made him popular with both white and Black audiences, but it also attracted criticism from other Black artists. Essentially, Cullen advocated for “color blindness” in art, while writers like McKay and Hughes highlighted racial differences.

“Yet Do I Marvel” exemplifies Cullen’s approach to this issue. The poem is a traditional sonnet, yet it is about a fundamental question of Blackness in America. The poem marvels at God’s works, but it also lingers on things that seem cruel for a loving god to create. The last thing listed is the idea of a poet who wishes to sing but who is Black. The implication is that it seems cruel to create a society where people who want to express themselves are punished for doing so.

Further Literary Resources

“Claude McKay” by Poetry Foundation (n.d.)

This article goes into depth not only about McKay’s upbringing and personal life, but also about his writing and the critical and political responses to it. The article also focuses on McKay’s travels, political leanings and ideologies, as well as book and poetry publications. The article also discusses “If We Must Die” and suggests it kicked off the Harlem Renaissance.

“Harlem Renaissance” by History.com Editors (2022)

This article provides plenty of contextual information to understand the Harlem Renaissance. The article begins by looking at how the Great Migration helped launch the Harlem Renaissance, and it goes into detail about some people and different kinds of art that helped inspire Black people in America. The article traces the rise of Harlem, the appropriation of it, the climax of it, and the end of it.

“If We Must Die in Civil Rights-Era America” by Alex Thompson (2016)

Thompson tracks the appropriation of “if We Must Die” by other people in desperate, dramatic situations. Thompson makes the point that the poem is both timely and timeless, meaning it works as a poem about the issues facing African Americans in America, and it works as a general poem that people can apply to any great need or situation they are facing.