Comparing & Contrasting Claude McKay’s Sonnets

For this Thursday (4/18), students will compare and contrast two of Claude McKay’s sonnets from the Harlem Shadows that are thematically linked, tell a continuous story, or seem to inform each other when printed side-by-side.

Please categorize under “Claude McKay” and don’t forget to create specific and relevant tags. And write your full name. The post is due by 4/18 at 11:00am.

Beyond the Poetic

Catherine Tate’s recitation of Shakespeare’s sonnet 130, “my mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun,” transforms its meaning by breaking the sonnet’s conventional form through a chaotic gender performance that opposes masculine order. The traditional situation of a sonnet involves a male speaker expressing his idealized love through poetic elements, but Shakespeare’s sonnet opposes this as the speaker refers to his “mistress” as lacking the emphasized beauty found in nature – “coral is far more red… no such roses see I in her cheeks” (Shakespeare 2, 6). The speaker brings realism by portraying how his love is incomparable to the romanticism that poetry tends to display, referring to them as a “false compare” in which the speaker provides his “mistress” with her own individuality (14). This is furthered from the volta in line 13 where the speaker shifts from presenting his love as potentially ugly, but then unveiling that true love to him is the beauty beyond the poetic metaphors or similes; it is her genuine self.

Cacophony also follows throughout the sonnet up to the 12th line, until the volta holds a change in sound and becomes euphonic, “and yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare…” (13). Cacophony mimics the chaos prevalent throughout the ugliness of the twelve lines, preceding how the unpleasant sounds reflects the unpleasantness of how the speaker’s love is incomparable to anything beautiful. However, euphony ends the sonnet because it is through the identity beyond the poetic that is pleasant and beautiful.

Straightforwardly, this is a sonnet chaotically presenting itself through its ugliness by not providing the desired aestheticism expected by popular conventions. The sonnet’s chaotic imperfection orders its existence through its 14 lined, iambic pentameter that defines the identity of the sonnet/mistress. 

Catherine Tate’s gender performance is an expression of her character’s identity by embodying the chaotic mannerisms to rebel against her teacher played by David Tennant. Tate’s character opposes the order in which her teacher tries to enforce, but during her recitation does it show that the character is intelligent, despite the supposed belief that she was “dull.” Instead of a male speaker speaking in the voice of a woman, it is a female speaker. It is her femininity that creates the order of her identity, in which her chaotic manners structures who she is. She recites the sonnet in continuation without any pauses, embodying the chaos that she poses against her teacher. Thus, her “ugliness” – in terms of her personality as being perceived reprehensible by her teacher – is a definitive expression of Tate’s character reflected from the sonnet that defies conventions. 

-Phillip Gallo

All Too Harsh

While I do admit that I have changed my mind a few times during the writing process of this blog, I do have to agree that “Outcast” represents the hopelessness and despair of the working-class speaker that we observe in “The Tired Worker.” Given that this blog post is viewable by more than just my fellow classmates, it is important to recognize our poet who wrote both “Outcast” and “The Tired Worker”, which are from a collection by Claude McKay in his work titled Harlem Shadows (pgs. 44, 45). There are so many things I can say about McKay’s life, everything from how he was born in Jamaica and moved to the U.S. in 1912. From this time onward, McKay attends school, moves to New York, gets married, gets divorced, and starts publishing his poetry. By the time that McKay has published his collection, Harlem Shadows, America has seen a violent reaction against communism, called The Red Scare (I’ve attached a link to a brief history of The Red Scare). From everything within McKay’s life, and the life of Americans experiencing events in history like the Red Scare, it is no wonder that his work consists of very common parallels with the real world. 

Getting back to the pieces of McKay’s work that we will be looking at, “Outcast” and “The Tired Worker”, we see a correlation behind the type of person that McKay is trying to reach as an audience, the working-class. “Outcast” takes a reminiscing tone, one that looks back to the days where “My soul would sing forgotten jungle songs” and where there was peace. This 14 lined sonnet carries a hopeless theme, which is shown when McKay ends the two last lines. McKay says, 

“For I was born, far from my native clime,

Under the white man’s menace, out of time.”

This character and voice that we as the audience hear them say shows how they feel they are out of time. What this likely means is that because they are away from the place they were born, there is no time to go back now that they have built a new life here in America. This idea carries us back over to “The Tired Worker” who’s character very much experiences the hardship of the working-class. Similarity I want to observe the last two lines of this 14 lined sonnet,

“Weary my veins, my brian, my life! Have pity!

No! Once again the harsh, harsh city.” 

Both of the last two lines of “Outcast” and “The Tired Worker” resemble existence, from birth and the pasting of time, to veins, life and a city that makes the life that they live all too harsh. In all, Outcast represents the hopelessness and despair of the character who has come to this country to have a better life but missing home, as they are now a working-class person living in a harsh city in “The Tired Worker.”

Anne K. Anderson

Despair of Justice

The world we live in suffers from injustice. Poets tried expressing this issue through the use of poetry. For instance, McKay is one of the poets that suffered from injustice while working. This can be seen through the two poems “Outcast,” and “The Tired Workers.” The idea of injustice and the use of workers to benefit the employer even though it’s costing the worker’s their health, is seen through line 8 in the poem “The Tired Workers.” The use of vocabulary such as “tired and aching” suggests that the poet is extremely tired from the use of workers. In addition, the use of the red color suggests for the blood that is being shed by the workers to satisfy the employers. Both poems satisfy the traditional characteristics of a sonnet, but both poems experience a wave of rage which can be seen through the excess use of exclamation points. I personally agree with McKay as workers are still being abused on a daily basis by employers.

Sit Still, Look Pretty.

I was truly surprised with how much I enjoyed William Shakespeare’s “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” and Catherine Tate’s comic relief classroom performance. This skit is now definitely one of my favorite videos that I’ve seen. With my first read of “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” I was shocked due to the contrasting William Shakespeare sonnet “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?”, where Shakspeare questions whether to even compare his lover to a summer’s day. In the “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun”, the overall comparison is between the body of the speaker’s lover and beautiful things. These beautiful things include the sun, snow, roses, and even a goddess! With this in mind, it is my opinion that in Catherine Tate’s comic relief classroom performance, Tate quite actually references the sonnet but also expresses some of the same irony on women’s standards. I think that Tate’s use of the sonnet in her comic relief classroom performance is mostly used as humor. When watching the YouTube video you can tell that the teacher (David Tennant) is annoyed with the female student (Catherine Tate) because Tate asks too many questions, is very loud and annoying, and unfocused during the class. I think that the persona of Tate’s character is a critique of the role of women. In Shakespeare’s sonnet, we see that his lover is not beautiful, not the typical type of woman that is considered ideal. Likewise, Catherine Tate’s character doesn’t act like the ideal student, let alone female student. This comic relief video enhances Shakespeare’s sonnet, because it shows how standards for women are still the same as they were in Shakespeare’s time: sit still, look pretty. 

When looking at the File on Catcourses named, “ENG 57 the sonnet.docx” we can learn about the turn and the rhyming couplets. Ironically, the definition stated from the sonnet.docx says, “couplets are sharp, witty, and self-reflective sayings that conclude the sonnet” and the last two minutes of the comic relief classroom performance are Catherine Tate reciting from memory the entire “My Mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun” sonnet. William Shakespeare’s sonnet is then transformed and enhanced by Tate’s classroom performance, because they both end with the same rhyming couplet. Of course, Tate is then shrunk down to a tiny version, which definitely doesn’t happen in the sonnet, but hey! It’s a comic relief video for a reason. s

Lastly, for watchers that didn’t catch the joke in the comic relief YouTube video, when Tate asks Tennant, “Are you the doctor?” and Tennant replies, “Doctor Who?” it is in reference to the television show “Doctor Who”, that Tennant and Tate both star in. THere are other jokes made as well, such as “Suck it alien boy!” This joke really doesn’t have anything to do with Shakespeare’s sonnets, but it’s a good joke. A great one even.

Anne K. Anderson

Shakespearian Sonnets, Smartass Students, and Other Things That Are in This Essay

Sonnets. Described by dictionary definitions as “a poem of fourteen lines using any of several formal rhyme schemes. In English, Sonnets typically have an ABABCDCDEFEFGG scheme, with every line skipping to rhyme until the final composition couplet.”  Specifically Elizabethan poetry, the most common type of which would be that of the ol’boy himself, William Shakespeare.  You’ll watch the teacher turn to some random page on a too-big-to-carry English Literature book and start with one of his classic sonnets.  But, “What is a sonnet?” (you undoubtedly wonder).  Well, to put it simply, a Sonnet is If that sounds overly specific and oddly stringent, well you’d be damned right.  Every English student who’s had to drag their brain across such a concept has likely had to hear this at some point and forced to listen or read a sonnet. In order to avoid boring the audience to death, a performance is introduced by Catherine Tate involving the sonnet “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun”. It follows the antics of a lower-class student engage in a conflict with their teacher and add to the meaning of Shakespeare’s poem.

Meet Lauren Cooper, a student of English descent going out of her way (as all troublemakers do) to start trouble.  From mocking her new Scottish teacher’s heritage to randomly disrupting the topic and cutting him off mid-sentence, it’s a familiar sight to behold gor any viewer.  Really adds to the feeling of English class, don’t it?  After all, there’s nothing quite like a disruptive student attempting to upstart their new teacher to drive in the charm and meaning of Shakespeare’s poems, aye?  After setting the scene, she ups the anty through a full performance of the poem “My Mistress’s Eyes Are Nothing Like The Sun,” to the bewilderment of her exasperated target.  Now that we’ve established the context, why does it matter?  What does this performance add to the piece?  Simple, it transforms the meaning of the sonnet through the inclusion of class issues and varied interpretations of Shakespeare’s work to be more relatable to the average person outside academia. “Elaborate please.” Why sure, I’d love to!  

First of all, “Lauren Cooper” over here is portrayed as the run-of-the-mill working-class student.  Her opinion of poetry is reflected in the way she converses with her friend in the back of class calling English “well-dry” and saying “readings for losers!” This likely isn’t from a place of true hatred or distaste for the subject, but a reflection on the fact that the working classes have often been more busy trying to survive and not fall into poverty to care about such topics.  Her parents likely only sent her to school so she could get a job that will provide for her in the future, something tangible and secure (think nurse, engineer, lawyer, etc.), instilling in her the idea that poetry and the arts were (at best) a hobby or (at worst) a waste of time.  This adds meaning to Shakespeare’s sonnet as it enhances it through familiarity.  The poem, itself, portrays the beauty in the ordinary of Shakespeare’s beloved Mistress through going against Aristocratic and frivolous comparisons that were common in love poems at that time.  It told the tale of an ordinary, if not an unattractive looking woman, who despite not being as beautiful or lovely or otherworldly as songs, goddesses, or the sun still had a love so strong it pushed the poet to immortalize her in writing.  Having a lower class member of society, people who Shakespeare would often write for (not just the rich!), helps add familiarity.  It makes the audience feel more included than if an educated English professor or an upper-class student would have read it.  It shows that anyone can relate to this poem and take joy in it.  

Next, this performance adds a new interpretation to the poem that makes it more relatable to readers.  Typically poems of this type are read like passionate love notes.  Often they have gentle pauses, consistent tempo, or follow a particular rhythm that is slow and easy to follow.  This is an academic interpretation, not something everyone understands. Not Miss Cooper’s.  Her performance is more like someone singing rap/hip-hop lyrics from a song or a phrase they heard in a previous conversation.  It is casual and already known, spoken with deliberate speed and expecting the audience to be able to follow.  It takes the context outside of the distant and unfamiliar, but makes it tangible to all other forms. She does what many fail to do: she brings out the relatability of Shakespeare.  Miss Cooper revitalizes the original purpose of Sonnets like this, the type that needed to be easy to memorize and applied to many circumstances.   Now, the reader can see it in either a working class setting, as a student proving a teacher wrong, or a fun memory from class. This enhances the meaning of “My Mistress’s Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun” by making it memorable to the audience.  By putting it like this, Cooper provides the poem a way to stick to the viewer’s mind and helps dismantle the intimidating, complex nature of a sonnet for viewers. Now whenever the sonnet comes to mind and they must think of this poem, they will remember her performance.  This relatability helps make everything make so much more sense to those outside of academia and makes it more available to everyone. Something many writers can afford to do. Heck yeah for disruptive students!

Jojo C. Chukwueloka

Persuasive much?!

Jackeline Salazar

My favorite blog post was the “WHITE AMERICAAAAAAAA” by Dannyon13, their blog post was the most persuaded post and that caught my attention. I liked how they mention the rhyme scheme in the beginning of their post describing what scheme the poems were by Mckay and how they mention that they were both sonnets. They also said in their first paragraph the theme within the poem they choose which was a great way to end the first paragraph. The next few paragraphs they are then describing what and why each poem was parting the theme of racism that they mention in the first paragraph. This blog post in particular had a great well written and it was concise throughout their entire blog post. Therefore I will grade this blog post a B+ almost an A-.

The 2nd most persuaded blog post “Tropic Shadows” by kitsham, their blog post was ver organized. In the 2nd paragraph I liked how they mentioned the poem and their sonnet form. They also brought up a few lines from the poem to back up their theme and thesis that they have mentioned in their first paragraph. I think the only difference is if they were to have separate their paragraphs or sections of the poems they were talking about in their blog post so that way it can be easier to point out that they mentioned both of the poems in their blogs instead of having it on one big paragraph. That is my only concern for this blog post other than that they seemed to have answered the prompt and were concise throughout their entire blog post. I would grade  this post an A-.

The last blog post, “The Great Divide” by marklipnickey was another good post too. I liked how they mentioned the form of the sonnets and they have mentioned where the volts where in each of the poems they chose. They mentioned a theme or a thesis in the beginning of their blog post. They had a very well structured and organized blog post throughout the whole way. They also talked about some elements that they found in their poems. Which was great way to start off before they stared to explain the poems and meanings of it. This was beyond and good in a way because it makes the reader understand the poem more. Overall the post was great I would grade this post an A. It was very well structured and organized and they had their main points and added some extras to make their post stand out more. Which was more persuading and it was a good post overall.

Ngh… The bed is always coziest in the mornings

Kevin Vargas

The world fades, and senses awake. One’s does not dare to commence the opening trials of routine. Yet, it has become such a tradition that it itself has assimilated. Daily-bouts regardless of mood. Days, months, years into unbreakable slots.

“Outcast” is more fitting to represent despair while “The tired worker” strongly ties into hopelessness. 

In any dreadful routine-based work, the groans are always present, a quick lip smack for a check of reality, and a final stretch to prepare for tragedy. These same emotions are a modern version of written feeling for “The Tired Worker.” Its despair is felt with the repetitive complaints after every “O” alongside the acknowledgement of self-destructive physical conditions. It is so comparable that even line line 10 shows that the speaker wants to sleep and ignore work as well!  

“Outcast” demonstrates that the soul is far greater than of than of the routine schedule. Before the tone switches into despair in line 9, there are subtle hints at hope that remains makes one moral. For example, lines 3 through 5 represent most of our ideals that we try to live out our lives as happily as can be. We are okay with the torment of harsh capitalism if all our acquaintances are connected. We aren’t in control of who tells our story, but we can share the experience of it.  

These sonnets are relevant in creating a contemporary and understandable horror that we still face today. The horror of losing who we are in the face of greed and fear of death. 

Internally Hopeless

By Alex Luna

When taking a look at McKay’s sonnets, a common theme seems to revolve around perils of the working class. McLay himself was always attracted to communist ideals without necessarily declaring himself a communist. Therefore, many of the themes are present in his works. Two particular sonnets, “Outcast” and “The Tired Worker” seem to be in conversation with each other in regard to the pain and disparities faced by the working class. While they are both different in tone, with “The Tired Worker” taking a bit of a more theatrical tone to highlight the issues, while “Outcast” goes deep into the subtle nuance and true despair that the working class faces. Therefore, yes, “Outcast” does accurately reflect the hopelessness and despair of the working class speaker in “The Tired Worker” 

Immediately from the beginning of “The Tired Worker” you are thrust into the tone of the poem. The speaker begins with a declaration saying “O whisper, O my soul!” which automatically invokes and instills a sense of theatrics. While the pain may be genuine, the way in which is presented is definitely strategically used to call attention and highlight said pain. It sounds like the speaker is speaking to a crowd, trying to rile them up to being some sort of movement. At the same time, he makes it personal with specific references to himself and his body. This implies that perhaps he is trying to rally himself. This continues on with the following lines “Be patient, weary body, soon the night will wrap thee gently in her sable sheet.” He acknowledges his pain but uses the promise of a better tomorrow to motivate him forward. 

Where does “Outcast” fit in? Well, it seems to discuss these struggles touched on in “The Tired Worker,” but in a completely different tone. “Outcast” seems to indulge in a more somber and quiet tone. Rather than the speaker reassuring himself, he now looks at that mirror and his innermost thoughts are being explored. The speaker says “My spirit, bondaged by the body, longs.” This discussion of the pain the body is in returns. Rather than use it as a source of empowerment, the speaker acknowledges the pain they’re in. There is a unique contrast between what is said in the first poem to what is said here. Almost as if the speaker is internally coming to face with their predicaments and turmoil, while externally convincing themselves that the pain they’re in will cease. This is further acknowledged by the line “Something in me is lost, forever lost, some vital thing has gone out of my heart.”How could the speaker be saying this despite the previous poem implying there is something to gain? Wouldn’t this disprove the debate statement? 

It all comes down to the concept of internal vs external conflict. Often times we tell ourselves a certain thing when deep down we know the opposite to be true. In this case, Mckay expertly crafts this narrative where a person externally tells themselves one thing, and then we see their true internal thoughts. The contrast in tone shows this too, from a theatrical tone to a somber tone. How in person we’ll act one way but think another. Therefore, “Outcast” does indeed reflect the true hopelessness, by highlighting that urge to convince oneself that their pain can be healed, when internally we know it to be too strong. 

Escaping from Hopelessness

Jackeline Salazar

That feeling of hopelessness; you gave up on life and now you are probably stuck. Well in Harlem Shadows two poems describe this type of feeling, a feeling of hopelessness and just giving up on yourself. The poems “Outcast” and “The Tired Worker” are what both represent the meaning of feeling hopelessness and despair. “The Outcast” poem mentions how they felt so free and that they can sing their lungs out but deep deep down they feel like the world shuts them down easily so the author who wrote this poem feels like they are just hopeless, this is in lines 4-7 “ My soul would sing forgotten jungle soups, I would go back to darkness and peace, But the great western world holds me in fee.” The volta is in line 6 when the line starts with a but. In these specific lines though the poet is representing the hopeless and despair that they felt in their life and how the world makes them feel small about themselves.

The other poem “The Tired Worker” has also the representation of feeling hopelessness and despair. In lines 8-9 the author mentions how they feel as if the night is still young so why not stop there that they can just live their life as if there was no tomorrow. They mention how the day yes it can be a pain in the ass but the night just makes them feel more alive than the daylight. “The wretched day was theirs, the night is mine.” I wonder what they meant by the day is theirs, who could “their” be referring to? It is “their” referring to the society and cruel world, the other hardworking humans who also have to work or live a miserable life in the daylight. Possibly, and the night is just meant for the author so they can have a fun time and live young. But then later on in this poem, there is a volta in line 11 it starts with a but, the author uses this volta to explained that it was not all about living a good life at night. In lines 13-14 “Weary my veins, my brain, my life! Have pity! No! Once again the harsh, the ugly city.” As in explaining that the author meant to not sugar coat everything and ended off that either way of having so much fun in the night or even in daylight. They will still live in a cruel world and still have a boring life no matter what. Their life will still be hopeless and be in sad and despair no matter how many times you can escape that hopelessness will come back.

Both of these poems do represent the hopelessness and despair of the working-class world. Even though they both had a different way of showing it they managed to find their way to end those poems with a message meaning the working-class lives in a hopeless world.