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The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay

            The beginning of Harlem Dancer, seems to give away what the entire poem is about. The opening line says "APPLAUDING youths laughed with young prostitutes"(1). When you read this you assume that the speaker is simply describing some young guys looking at prostitutes in a night club. As I read the rest of the poem the central topic that I thought was obvious in the first line changed. Towards the end of the poem the true central topic of the poem was truly unveiled. The speaker in line 3 says "Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes"(3). When the author says this the first idea that cam into my head was that she was in a way controlling these young men with her voice, much like a man who uses a flute to control a cobra. When I read it for the third and fourth time, i thought about how the sound of flutes are very soft and calm. I felt the speaker uses the flutes as a way to represent how truly desperate and helpless this woman was. The author then makes an interesting statement in line 4. The speaker says "Blown by black players upon a picnic day". When he said this it confused me. When i think of a night club, with a bunch of young men, and girls dancing i do not think of a picnic day. I think of loud music, drinking, and people yelling and partying. when i picture a picnic day i think of two people on a date, or a family reunion, where everyone is just relaxing, and talking. Finally in line five the speaker says "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm", this again completely contradicts the things i think of when it comes to a prostitute. When i think of a prostitute dancing i do not think graceful and calm, i think reveling, sexy, and seductive. This statement of her dancing this way really emphasizes the reason she is here, because she has to be. The central topic of this poem is the fact that people in poor economic situations will do whatever it takes in order to survive.


Essays Related to The Harlem Dancer by Claude McKay

1. harlem dancer

Interpretation of "The Harlem Dancer" The poet, Claude McKay, was an African American who was born in Jamaica. ... "The Harlem Dancer" is a poem written by McKay in which many different poetic apects emerge as we read the poem. ... Throughout "The Harlem Dancer", McKay uses metaphores and different symbols to express his feelings in this piece of writing. ... "The Harlem Dancer" is a poem written by Claude McKay that was written during Harlem Renaissance that took place in New York during the 1920's. ... Works Cited Claude McKay. ...

  • Word Count: 1662
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Grade Level: High School

2. Harlem dancer

Interpretation of "The Harlem Dancer" The poet, Claude McKay, was an African American who was born in Jamaica. ... "The Harlem Dancer" is a poem written by McKay in which many different poetic apects emerge as we read the poem. ... The title of "The Harlem Dancer" is very deceiving. ... Throughout "The Harlem Dancer", McKay uses metaphores and different symbols to express his feelings in this piece of writing. ... "The Harlem Dancer" is a poem written by Claude McKay that was written during Harlem Renaissance that took place in New York during the 1920's. ...

  • Word Count: 1634
  • Approx Pages: 7
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: High School

3. Harlem Renaissance

In the early 1900s, particularly in the 1920s, African-American literature, art, music, dance, and social commentary began to flourish in Harlem, a section of New York City. ... Claude McKay , an immigrant from Jamaica, produced an impressive volume of verse, Harlem Shadows (1922), and a best-selling novel, Home to Harlem (1928), about a young Negro's return from World War I. ... In 1929 Wallace Thurman and William Jourden Rapp collaborated on a popular play, "Harlem". ... Other theater groups of the time included the Harlem Experimental Players, the Krigwa Players, the Negro Art Theater,...

  • Word Count: 824
  • Approx Pages: 3
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

4. Economic Prosperity of the 1920s and it

Many things, such as the widespread use of the automobile, transformed family social life, while the new, wide following of Jazz and the Harlem Renaissance created revolutionary cultural changes. ... As this happened, white musicians began incorporating jazz into their music, while big bands, both black and white popularized it for dancing. Quite possibly the greatest cultural changes came about with the Harlem Renaissance, a cultural movement in Harlem, New York, of African American actors, artists, writers, and musicians. ... The Harlem Renaissance was above all a literary movement, wh...

  • Word Count: 335
  • Approx Pages: 1
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

5. The effect of the Harlem Renaissance on American Literature

It began in the early 1920's where African American literature, art, music, and dance began to flourish in Harlem, a neighboorhood in New York City. ... Then let's sing it, dance it, write it, paint it. ... The diverse literary expression of the Harlem Renaissance ranged from the fiction of James Weldon Johnson and the poetry of Claude Mckay which described the reality of black life in America and the struggle for racial identity. Mckay also presented glimpses of the glamour and the grit of Harlem life in Harlem Shadows. ... Alot of things contributed to the decline of the Harlem Ren...

  • Word Count: 1369
  • Approx Pages: 5
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

6. White Influences of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance centered in the Harlem neighborhood of New York City, and the movement had significant impacts throughout the United States. Across the culture spectrum (literature, drama, music, visual art, dance) and also in the realm of social thought (sociology, historiography, philosophy), artists and intellectuals found a new way to explore the historical experiences of black America. ... So, it caused the beginning of the Harlem Renaissance. ... Many people may think there only the negative responses of whites in the Harlem Renaissance because according to Claude Mckay who was o...

  • Word Count: 1512
  • Approx Pages: 6
  • Has Bibliography
  • Grade Level: Undergraduate

7. Jazz Age

Another event that is the outcome of the Jazz Ag is the Harlem Renaissance. ... Many large groups of jazz musicians began to play together, after the model of society dance bands. ... The diverse literary expression of the Harlem Renaissance ranged from Langston Hughes's weaving of the rhythms of African American music into his poems of ghetto life, as in The Weary Blues (1926), to Claude McKay's use of the sonnet form as the vehicle for his impassioned poems attacking racial violence, as in "If We Must Die" (1919). McKay also presented glimpses of the glamour and the grit of Harlem ...

  • Word Count: 1092
  • Approx Pages: 4

8. The Movement of the Harlem Renaissance

The Harlem Renaissance was a movement originating in Harlem New York in the 1920s. ... Sidney Bremer's Home in Harlem, New York: Lessons from the Harlem Renaissance Writers, Jon Michael Spencer's The Black Church and the Harlem Renaissance, and Cheryl A. ... Wall states that Claude Mckay "felt that America was more or less an "outpost of European civilization anyway" (72). ... Starting just after World War I and ending by the Great Depression, Green says that this movement inspired dance, music, poetry, fashion, and, he jokes, "probably a novelty cocktail" (Langst...

  • Word Count: 876
  • Approx Pages: 4
  • Has Bibliography

9. African American Literature - Freedom and Sexuality

One of the main highlights of the twentieth century is the Harlem Renaissance, which permitted blacks to flourish in the arts and literature. ... Although opposing Bennett's idea that slavery is not empowering, Claude McKay sees slavery as a source of power in his sexual poem, "America. " With the opening of the poem, McKay makes it clear that the America he visualizes is a woman as he writes, "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! ... It is not unu...

  • Word Count: 2535
  • Approx Pages: 10
  • Has Bibliography

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