America
BY CLAUDE MCKAY

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.
Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,
Giving me strength erect against her hate,
Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.
Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,
I stand within her walls with not a shred
Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.
Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,
And see her might and granite wonders there,
Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,
Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

‘America’ by Claude McKay balances ideas of loving and hating the United States. McKay explores the good parts of the country, the strength and vigor it includes as well as the bad. America by Claude McKay explores the simultaneous horrors and luminance of America.

Beginning with what is bad about the country, McKay quickly says that he loves it. The poet understands that it is a country that has a quality that inspires strength and passion, although there are certainly many bits that do the opposite. The poem is at once a critique and a love letter to the United States of America. One technique that McKay uses is oxymorons. He describes America as a ‘cultured hell’, the idea of pairing two contrasting notions together. Indeed, although hellish, somewhere difficult to live with serious cultural and political problems, there are also elements of ‘culture’ and layout to the country, McKay insinuating his simultaneous love and hate of America.

Source: Poem Analysis