GradeSaver "If We Must Die Lines 1-4 Summary and Analysis". To develop his negative portrayal of a capitulating death, the speaker uses comparisons to two animals that reflect the two sides starkly divided in conflict: hogs and dogs. “If We Must Die” is a Shakespearean sonnet written by the Jamaican poet Claude McKay in 1919. Copyright © 1999 - 2020 GradeSaver LLC. While McKay does not give us any concrete details about the speaker, his allies, or their enemies—and indeed the poem contains little sensory language and, notably, no language relating to color—we can deduce that the speaker is almost certainly a man, speaking to men (or mostly men).

The speaker begins his address with more open, accommodating language ("let us"), and in the beginning he chooses to create negative images of surrender he wants his allies to react against. McKay's poem is a 14 line "Shakespearean sonnet," heavily end-stopped and broken up into three quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a final couplet. While the men are all apparently doomed to die, the speaker does not complain or try to resist this fate. By creating such a powerfully negative image in the beginning of the poem, the speaker prepares his audience to later be convinced of something that might otherwise be quite difficult to accept: that they must die by facing their enemy directly. This means dying with honour and meaning. The poem, If We Must Die, is primarily about death and honor in the face of war. He is willing to die as long as they fight and die like soldiers in dignity. If they capitulate to the enemy, he argues, they will not only die but also be mocked by their enemy. The first quatrain unfolds as just one sentence, beginning with the eponymous line "If we must die," which will be repeated twice in the poem. It made up of three quatrains , or sets of four lines, and one concluding couplet or set of two rhyming lines. resource to ask questions, find answers, and discuss the novel. Rhetorical Devices - The speaker considers this kind of submission "inglorious," and while recognizing their "accursèd lot" he begins to persuade his allies that they must resist. The Question and Answer section for If We Must Die is a great

First quatrain: "If we must die..." to "our accursed lot". These first four lines establish the basic premise of the poem: the speaker and his allies are under attack and are going to die, and the force opposing them is powerful and vicious. The speaker accepts his fate in war,And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! If We Must Die study guide contains a biography of Claude McKay, literature essays, quiz questions, major themes, characters, and a full summary and analysis. 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.

Beginning on the word "if" establishes the first sentence, and to some extent the whole poem, as a conditional, with the speaker arguing how they should proceed given the situation they are in. GradeSaver. First quatrain: "If we must die..." to "our accursed lot" Summary. It means fighting back until the enemy must proclaim your valor even in your death. In fact, in a pointedly archaic bit of language, he deems it their "accursèd lot," and he suggests that dwelling on it will only bring them mockery. Not affiliated with Harvard College. "Hogs / hunted and penned in an inglorious spot" provides his image for being entrapped and led to the slaughter, and the repeated "n" sounds in the line replicate this sense of being huddled together and trapped. To sum up his unnamed antagonist, on the other hand, the speaker invokes dogs, beginning an extended metaphor involving nonhuman creatures that will run throughout the poem. This image of "mad and hungry dogs" suggests not a worthy, cunning opponent but a crazed, bloodthirsty, subhuman mass, and "making their mock" further emphasizes the enemy's viciousness and cruelty—they will add insult on top of injury. Analysis of Claude McKay's If We Must Die By: Luisa Rabon EN210-03 December 6, 2014 Overview: Historical Context Author's Information Themes Tone Form and Meter Symbolism and Metaphor Judgments Conclusion Works Cited Form and Meter Shakespearean Sonnet 14 lines Rhyme scheme of

If We Must Die, by Claude McKay is a sonnet written during the Harlem Renaissance period; a period where there was a flowering of African-American literature and art, (1919- mid 1930s). By: Daphnie Russell, Sydney Salazar, and Lily Hendricks Form and Function The poem " If we must die " is in a traditional form, because it follows the rules like having limited numbers of fixed lines, a specific meter and rhyme scheme,and definite structure. McKay's poem is a 14 line "Shakespearean sonnet," heavily end-stopped and broken up into three quatrains (4 line stanzas) and a final couplet. Since "hogs" often refers to a castrated male pig, the image is also one of emasculation, implying a loss not only of humanity but of "manliness." / If we He holds clear-cut and traditional views about glory, honor, and masculinity, which in this quatrain he mobilizes to show his allies the kind of death they should not have. It is a poem of political resistance: it calls for oppressed people to resist their oppressors, violently and bravely—even if they die in the struggle. ‘If We Must Die’ by Claude McKay is a fourteen-line Shakespearean sonnet that is structured in the form which has come to be synonymous with the poet’s name. What does “pressed to the wall ,dying but fighting back “ mean.

what does mean "what thought before us lies the open grave. When he calls this death "inglorious," we get a sense that his criteria for evaluation do not turn on the amount of violence or the loss of life—these are unfortunately a given—but rather the conditions under which they die. What though before us lies the open grave?

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