Name: Snayder M.

Arellano
Course: American Literature
Instructor: Megan Sternecker
Date of Submission: March 9, 2014

Freedom and Acceptance

Among the various techniques employed in poetry analysis include SOAPS, meaning
subject, occasion, audience, purpose and speaker, and TP-CASTT, standing for title, paraphrase,
connotation, attitude, shifts, title and theme. Among these elements the subject, audience,
purpose, attitude and theme are critical in comparative analysis poems from various ages. Using
the targeted elements it is seen that Claude Mckays America provides a stark contrast to Phillis
Wheatleys On Being Brought from Africa to America as they share certain factors such as the
targeted audience and attitude even as they differ over subject, purpose and theme.
Comparatively, both poets target the African American sections of the populace. While
the case might be made that in Mckays case some of the audience included white Americans
even as in Wheatleys case certain white people of the Bostonian populace enjoyed her writing,
the principle targets were black folk. This determination is critical in understanding the tones and
attitudes both adopt in spreading their messages. In terms of attitude, both poets seek to inflame
the black sections of the community by calling upon their pride. For example, Mckay writes:
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 (Mckay)
The poets intimation is that while white people consider African Americans separate
from the rest of the community, they [African Americans] harbor designs about integration. More
importantly, even though the integration is sore to them, Although she feeds me bread of

bitterness, And sinks into my throat her tiger's tooth he considers the prospect necessary for
progress And see her might and granite wonders there (Mckay). Wheatley adopts a sarcastic
attitude in her approach, questioning the worth of obtaining what one never required in the first
place. She says, Once I redemption neither sought nor knew (Wheatley). Unlike Mckay who is
both placative and confrontative, displaying the two faces of the Harlem Renaissance,
Wheatleys origins in the slave markets of Americas founding days is critical of the master race
that despises the Negro even as it brings Gods word. This is why she writes:
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join th'angelic train (Wheatley)
Contrastingly, the subject, purpose and themes of the two poets are as instructive. In
Mckay we see an effort to not only embrace the white man but also show him the black mans
worth. He writes, Although she feeds me bread of bitternessI love this cultured hell that tests
my youth! (Mckay) In contrast, judging from the apparent irony behind her line, "Twas mercy
brought me from my Pagan land, Wheatley seeks no such acceptance. Her message targets the
black community with the purpose of understanding the fact that contrary to appearances, the
white race did not love the black one. Indeed, the themes and purposes of both poems offer
starkly contrasting pictures of the worldviews harbored by the African American or simply
African - communities of the age. In Mckays age, slavery was past and what black people
sought was recognition and appreciation. In Wheatleys age, black people sought pride and selfrealization as a race downtrodden and demeaned as inferior. Indeed, compare Wheatleys:
"Their colour is a diabolic die."
Remember, Christians, Negros, black as Cain,
May be refin'd and join th'angelic train.
to Mckays:

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.
In the first, disgust is shielded by sarcasm while in the second loathing is attended to by
attraction. Ultimately, both target the same audience with different messages: the Harlem Age
poet with the message of hope whiles the Slave Age poet with the message of courage.