The look on my face when I won Britney Spears tickets!
America by Claude McKay
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.
Link: http://oldpoetry.com/opoem/4452-Claude-McKay-America
My response to this poem is that I didn’t really like it. I guess I didn’t get much of the language and what exactly he was trying to get at. I kind of felt that way for all of the poems that were listed. But this one seemed to stick out to me. I mean, I understand that this is a poem about his love and dislike towards America. How on one hand, he loves this country, but on the other he dislikes it and wishes to rebel against it.
If you look back at the time he wrote this, there was still a LOT of hate towards African Americans. So I can see why he would think America is hateful. But at the same time, he says that that hate fuels him to want to fight back, which makes him love it, too, it gives him that fuel to rebel. He says it feeds him hate and basically kills him. But at the same time, it is forcing him to grow out of his youthful ways, so he loves it. He says that he also loves America because of the feeling it gives him just by living there. He says, “Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,”, which is what is giving him his strength. The strength America has, is rubbing off onto him and giving him that strength and fuel to rebel against the hate she spreads. I like the poem, but at the same time, I felt some of it just didn’t fit together and it made it hard for me to really understand.
P.S. I FREAKIN’ WON BRITNEY SPEARS TICKETS ON HOT 95.7 TONIGHT!!!!!!! 
I enjoyed reading your thoughts about this poem. I am also incredibly jealous of your Britney Spears tickets! Good for you!
I think why a lot of it doesn’t make sense is because he’s trying to make America put to be a bittersweet country, especially in the time period he was living in. Sometimes it’s hard to deal with society and the way it treats us, but at the same time you can stand proud that you are surviving through it. “What doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.” However, I think he was saying because of racial prejudice America wasn’t reaching its full potential.
I think the message the poet was trying to convey was how the hardships of the United States made him a stronger person. I do not think the poet shows any negative feelings towards America. As an immigrant, I can strongly relate to this particular poem and I felt like the poet spoke my mind. what a coincidence that I got to analyze this very poem.