Elements of Literature Course 5

5

10

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.

1. Compare your views of America, and your place in it, with McKay’s.
2. In lines 1–3, what treatment does the poem’s speaker say he receives from America? What qualities of America cause the speaker to love the country anyway?
3. America is personified in this poem as an entity both cruel and powerful. What images suggest America’s cruelty and injustice? What images convey its power?
4. A rebel with “not a shred / Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer” might seem to be a rebel who does not really rebel. How does the poem resolve this paradox, or apparent contradiction?
5. What does this speaker see happening to America as he gazes into “the days ahead”? What messages about America’s future do you hear today in various sources—films, TV shows, news programs, magazines, and other media?

Using a chart, compare McKay's "America" to Robinson Jeffers's "Shine, Perishing Republic" (page 581). Consider the form, subject, point of view, and tone of each poem. List the similarities and differences.

Design a poster or write a bumper sticker that the speaker in "America" might display. Try to capture in a phrase or two the main idea expressed in the poem.