Analysis of Enslaved
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
Oh when I think of my long-suffering race,
For weary centuries despised, oppressed,
Enslaved and lynched, denied a human place
In the great life line of the Christian West;
And in the Black Land disinherited,
Robbed in the ancient country of its birth,
My heart grows sick with hate, becomes as lead,
For this my race that has no home on earth.
Then from the dark depths of my soul I cry
To the avenging angel to consume
The white man's world of wonders utterly:
Let it be swallowed up in earth's vast womb,
Or upward roll as sacrificial smoke
To liberate my people from its yoke!
Scheme | ABABBCDCEFGFHH |
---|---|
Poetic Form | |
Metre | 11111111001 1101000101 0101010101 0011110101 000111 1001010111 1111110111 1111111111 1101111111 1001010101 0111110100 1111010111 110110101 110110111 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 575 |
Words | 109 |
Sentences | 3 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 33 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 458 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 107 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 25, 2023
- 33 sec read
- 150 Views
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"Enslaved" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6852/enslaved>.
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