Claude McKay
Born
in Clarendon, Jamaica
September 15, 1889
Died
May 22, 1949
Website
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Home to Harlem
by
50 editions
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published
1928
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Romance in Marseille
by
15 editions
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published
2002
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Harlem Shadows: Poems
by
73 editions
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published
1922
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Banjo
24 editions
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published
1929
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Selected Poems
13 editions
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published
1969
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Amiable with Big Teeth
by
7 editions
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published
2017
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Banana Bottom
17 editions
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published
1933
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If We Must Die
4 editions
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published
1919
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A Long Way From Home (Multi-Ethnic Literatures of the Americas
by
27 editions
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published
2007
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Complete Poems (American Poetry Recovery Series)
by
8 editions
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published
2004
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“If We Must Die
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,
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,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
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!”
― Selected Poems of 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,
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,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
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!”
― Selected Poems of Claude McKay
“I plucked my soul out of its secret place,
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I’m comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.”
―
And held it to the mirror of my eye,
To see it like a star against the sky,
A twitching body quivering in space,
A spark of passion shining on my face.
And I explored it to determine why
This awful key to my infinity
Conspires to rob me of sweet joy and grace.
And if the sign may not be fully read,
If I can comprehend but not control,
I need not gloom my days with futile dread,
Because I see a part and not the whole.
Contemplating the strange, I’m comforted
By this narcotic thought: I know my soul.”
―
Topics Mentioning This Author
topics | posts | views | last activity | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Literary Fiction ...: Harlem Renaissance Novel by Claude McKay is Discovered | 10 | 80 | Oct 02, 2012 02:57PM | |
Caribbean Authors: Jamaica - Netherlands Antilles | 3 | 98 | Oct 22, 2013 07:04AM | |
College Students! : Fall/Winter 2013-14: Leader Board and Completed Tasks | 253 | 170 | Apr 01, 2014 12:39PM | |
Nothing But Readi...: Log For Keeping Track of Authors From Other Countries | 24 | 488 | Dec 11, 2014 05:59PM | |
Queereaders: What LGBT or LGBT-oid books do you want to re-read? | 92 | 105 | Oct 06, 2015 08:23AM | |
All About Books: The autobiography of an ex-colored man (Group Classics read Dec16/Jan17) | 37 | 38 | Jan 25, 2017 03:29PM | |
All About Books: Which novels and authors would you recommend for the period 1930 to 1980? | 65 | 100 | May 24, 2017 02:53PM | |
Retro Chapter Chi...: The 100 Challenge 2017 | 28 | 49 | Nov 27, 2017 02:58PM | |
The Reading For P...:
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1732 | 381 | Jan 08, 2018 08:42AM |