Claude Mckay The Harlem Dancer

'The Harlem Dancer' explores the persona a nightclub dancer displays and the deeper, more circuitous inner thoughts she'due south experiencing. It was starting time published in 1917 and and then included in Harlem Shadows, one of McKay's best-known collections and the one that brought him into the public spotlight. It was likewise included in James Weldon Johnson's The Book of American Negro Poesy.

Summary

'The Harlem Dancer' by Claude McKay explores a dancer'southward inner globe and the dignity with which she comports herself.

In the outset lines of 'The Harlem Dancer,' the speaker begins past describing the audition in a guild. There are young people and sexual activity workers. They laugh and enjoy themselves as some other young adult female dances on stage. She sang beautifully and moved to the music perfectly. The poet uses a few examples of figurative linguistic communication to describe her movements, comparing her to a palm tree during a storm. Every bit the poem progresses, the poet spends time describing the audition and their red, drunk faces and then brings in his speaker's stance. The dancer's smile, the speaker decides, is not a real one. She wasn't present at that moment as everyone else was. Her thoughts were somewhere else.

Themes

Throughout this verse form, the poet engages with themes of appearance and reality. He besides explores the woman's beauty. The poet'south exploration of the woman's movements and beauty is non unfamiliar in his piece of work. He oftentimes spent time celebrating Blackness beauty and the strength and nobility of Black women. By suggesting in that location was more to this adult female than meets the center, he humanizes her. This makes it articulate to the reader that the dancer is more than just a beautiful object. She's a whole person with an inner life that'south dissimilar from the reality she'south presenting.

Structure and Class

Literary Devices

Throughout this poem, McKay makes use of several literary devices. These include but are not limited to:

Metaphor: a comparison betwixt two unlike things that does not utilize "similar" or "equally." For instance, in lines seven and 8, the poet compares the dancer to a "proudly-swaying palm."
Ingemination: tin be seen when the poet repeats the same consonant sound at the get-go of words. For case, "Blown" and "black" in line 4 and "low-cal" and "loose" in line six.
Enjambment: occurs when the poet cuts off a line before its natural stopping signal—for example, the transition between lines i and two every bit well as 7 and eight.

Detailed Assay

Lines one-4

Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes

And watched her perfect, half-clothed body sway;

Her vox was like the sound of composite flutes

Blown past blackness players upon a picnic solar day.

In the first lines of 'The Harlem Dancer,' the speaker beings in medias res. Meaning, he puts the reader directly into the middle of the activity without first setting the scene. The speaker is describing the audience at a nightclub. They're young, some are with prostitutes, and they are all drinking. They're focused on "her." The "her" in these lines is the dancer from the title.

All that's known well-nigh her is that she's a Black adult female from Harlem. She's beautiful, has a wonderful singing voice, and is skilled at dancing. She moves to the music perfectly, and her "vocalism was like the sound of blended flutes." This is an case of figurative language, specifically a simile. It's expanded into the next lines. They're flutes "Diddled by blackness players upon a picnic solar day." This suggests there's something inherently "Black" about her voice. It connects her to broader cultural history. This is something that expands the scene beyond the nightclub and gives the dancer a deeper sense of identity.

Lines five-8

She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,

The light gauze hanging loose near her grade;

To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm

Grown lovelier for passing through a tempest.

In the second quatrain of the sonnet, the speaker emphasizes how calmly and gracefully the dancer did her job. She's barely clothed but appeared to the speaker to exist "a proudly-swaying palm." She has dignity and pride despite the situation she is in. This speaks to a force of graphic symbol and a depth that the other nightclub visitors are likely not tapped into. The metaphor, similar the simile before it, is extended into the next line. The poet alludes to the adult female's power to withstand storms and maintain her grace. This suggests, again, a depth to the woman's personality. She'due south more than just a dancer. She'south a Blackness woman maintaining grace and dignity in the face of what could be an uncomfortable and deeming situation. Furthermore, she'southward strong in a mode the speaker admires.

Lines 9-14

Upon her swarthy neck blackness shiny curls

Luxuriant savage; and tossing coins in praise,

The wine-flushed, assuming-eyed boys, and even the girls,

Devoured her shape with eager, passionate gaze;

But looking at her falsely-smiling confront,

I knew her self was non in that foreign identify.

In the 3rd and final quatrain, the speaker uses words like "swarthy" and "Luxuriant" to describe the "shiny curls" of her hair. This description, which elevates her farther in the reader'due south mind, is juxtaposed against the "wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls." These intoxicated onlookers don't capeesh the adult female in the same mode the speaker is. They have i thing on their mind, a want to devour "her shape with eager, passionate gaze." They're thinking about sex and nothing else.

In contrast, the speaker notes her fake grin and realizes that her "self was non in that strange place." Her mind was elsewhere, considering, perhaps, her life and her goals.

FAQs

Who is the speaker in 'The Harlem Dancer?'

Information technology's unclear who the speaker is in this piece besides the fact that he's a visitor at a nightclub, is not intoxicated similar the other visitors are, and has a keen eye. Meaning, he'southward noting things about the dancer that others wouldn't.

What is the tone of 'The Harlem Dancer?'

The tone is respectful and analytical. The speaker spends the lines determining exactly how the dancer moves and what it makes him retrieve of. He appreciates and represents her dignity and repetitively returns to information technology to make sure the reader does also.

Why did Claude McKay write 'The Harlem Dancer?'

What is the setting of 'The Harlem Dancer?'

The setting is in a nightclub in Harlem, a neighborhood in New York City. It was the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a movement the poet was closely aligned with. It'south sometime around 1917.

What is the mood of 'The Harlem Dancer?'

The mood of this peace is appreciative and contemplative. The reader should walk away thinking nearly the dancer's life and what she might've been thinking most while performing. They should also take a new appreciation for people in a similar profession.

Like Poetry

Readers who enjoyed 'The Harlem Dancer' should also consider reading another Claude McKay poems. For example:

' Harlem Shadows ' – memorably leaseholder the lives of Black sexual activity workers in Harlem. The poet describes their feel while also acknowledging their force.
' America ' – balances ideas of loving and hating the United states of america. McKay explores the practiced parts of the land, the strength and vigor it contains as well as the bad.
' I Know My Soul ' – discusses the importance of being honest with ourselves if nosotros wish to notice true peace.

Emma Baldwin

Emma graduated from East Carolina University with a BA in English, small-scale in Creative Writing, BFA in Fine Art, and BA in Art Histories. Literature is one of her greatest passions which she pursues through analyzing verse on Poem Analysis.