In his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay writes, "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". Here the poet connects to the main character in a subliminal way. The poet shows that he knows the struggle of the prostitute lifestyle as he compares the prostitute to a palm that has gone through a storm. With this metaphor, McKay transforms the struggle of the prostitute, an otherwise painful situation, into something that is beautiful. In addition, McKay also uses the poem to connect to his roots. His use of adjectives such as "gracefully" and "calm", as well as his comparison of the prostitute to a palm, further elaborates on his previous life in the Caribbean. At various parts in the poem, McKay uses what he knows to make comparisons to the club scene of the Harlem Renaissance.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay writes, "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". Here the poet connects to the main character in a subliminal way. The poet shows that he knows the struggle of the prostitute lifestyle as he compares the prostitute to a palm that has gone through a storm. With this metaphor, McKay transforms the struggle of the prostitute, an otherwise painful situation, into something that is beautiful. In addition, McKay also uses the poem to connect to his roots. His use of adjectives such as "gracefully" and "calm", as well as his comparison of the prostitute to a palm, further elaborates on his previous life in the Caribbean. At various parts in the poem, McKay uses what he knows to make comparisons to the club scene of the Harlem Renaissance.
In the poem, "Harlem Dancer", Festus Claudius is describing a prostitute and how she looks outward. "To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.../But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place." In this quote, the author is talking ng about how happy the women looks on the outside and that she carries herself well to the point that others who dont know her as well do not think that anything is wrong with her. In reality, the women has just gone through a lot but carries a good attitude. She is like a palm which has just gone through a storm. The prostitute is trying to make a living in New York and its not really working just like a palm tree would not survive in New York.
In the poem "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Claude the poet uses the Shakespearean sonnet form of quatrains to demonstrate the concept of the poem. For example, in the first and second quadtrains the flow of the periods, rhyme scheme, and colons are mellifluous. Comparing this to the concept of the poem, the women preformer is a preformer whose beauty and mellifluous voice captivated the audience. The poet says,"She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,The light gauze hanging loose about her form;To me she seemed a proudly-swaying Palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". The rhyme scheme is bcdc which blends evenly and the semi colons and periods are at the end of the lines. This is similar to the women in the poem who is graceful and beautiful swaying proudly because she has a appearance of something graceful. However the narrator compares her to a palm tree who has survived a passing storm. He is looking beneath her appearance seeing her as someone who is alienated because their beauty doesn't belong in a strange place; however he knows she is making it through. This shows how he sees her beauty as surviving while the men and women watching her see her outside appearance as beauty. Leading into the third quadtrain the flow of the semi colons are distorted and there is an inverted syntax. For example the poet says," Upon her swarthy neck black,shinny curls profusely fell;and, tossing coins in praise, the wine-flushed, bold eyed boys,and even the girls,Devoured her with their eager passionate gaze". This sequence distortion connects to the content of the poem because while everyone is allured by her the narrator notices her belied appearance. Festus Claudis uses this traditional form of writing correctly and still manipulates it to demonstrate what he is trying to say.
In "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Cladius "Claude McKay, the poet uses a Shakespearean Sonnet form to convey the meaning of this poem. He maniuplates the form putting his own meaning into it.
"But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/I knew herself was not in that strange place." This quote shows the narrator can see past her beauty and into the reality of her world. Instead of what other see (lust) he sees this woman who is a 'diamond' in the rough. She is a woman who has experienced many things, but here she is prostituting herself out for money and pretending to be happy. The quatrains and how their organized sets the scene and describes the facade the woman puts up that only the narrator can see through.
QT: To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm Grown lovelier for passing through a storm." In the poem "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay in this quote describes the dancer with flowing diction and comparing her movements to familiar weather found in his home country; Storms in Jamaica. He talks about his country using an English sonnet, using the structure alone as a base and building off of it and forming it into his own unique poem. The poet envies the dancer and her movements and almost develops an indirect relationship with her just by describing her astonishing actions and beauty. Although while he sees her beauty, he knows that not all see true beauty and only see a set of nice legs and a pretty face to watch and throw money at, as if that were the way to appreciate a women and her beauty.
In the poem '' Harlem Dancer " by Festus Claudius , he uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey the content of the poem.Throughout the first quatrian Claudius the poet uses semi-colons and periods to address the women as seductive to the audience. For example Claudius says "And watched her perfect, half clothed body sway." The audience was captivated by the woman on stage and the audience only is seeing her outward appearence. As we get into the second and third quatrian, we see that the poet has a deeper connection with her than the rest of the audience. Claudius says" To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm." We can infer that the woman in the poem went through an bad experience by using words like " passing" and "storm". The poet also uses words like " seemed " nd we can infer that even though the woman seems calm and graceful she maybe putting up a front for the audience. In addition, when we get into the last couplet of the poem the poet says " But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place." The structure of the poem and its form describes the poet as seeing past her outward appearnce and how she is uncomfortable with the attention.
The form of Claude McKay's poem "Harlem dancer" is a shakesperean sonnet which is usually meant to be used for formal poems with proper content and already contrasts with the content of this poem. The speaker talks about a dancer that wear provocative clothing for "youth" and "young prostitutes". The poem has 3 sentences with several semicolons that make different clauses each. The first two quatrains describe the beautiful side of this dancer and have two sentences each with orderly syntax. Each semicolon would symbolize a new physical characteristic of the dancer in the first two quatrains. The third quatrain has a different mood as the first two by using words like 'profusely', 'swarthy', and 'devoured'. The speaker begins to describe what the dancer experiences with her audience making it dark and almost demonic as they objectify her. This matches with the form of the quatrain as the syntax begins to become distorted and the semicolons aren't in order with the others showing how wrong it is what's happening to her. In the couplet the third sentence ends giving a new look at the theme like sonnets usually do. We see that the dancer seems like she doesn't want to be in Harlem as a dancer feeling alienated by these people that 'devour' her but she does it anyway. It's then implied that the speaker then admires her more for not only how beautiful she is but how much she endures in a strange place.
This is Jeremiah Cottman's post. In the poem "Harlem Dancer" Festus Claudius speaks of a dancing prostitute using Shakespeare's sonnet form of writing to describe his message. He writes "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm." The prostitute has gone through a rough experience. She dances and sings gracefully but in reality she is not happy with what she is doing. Claudius sees this unhappiness and admires her for putting on a smile even though she has been through rough times. The poem also says a lot about Claudius. In order for Claudius to see the prostitute's unhappiness he must have gone through a rough experience also. Those who fight through pain can see the pain in others.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey the content of his poem. The first quatrain uses comments like, "Half-Clothed Body", to describe the street dancers appearance. The second quatrain uses comments like, " proudly-swaying Palm", to describe the performers dance. Palm trees sway and are calm and graceful, he compares her to them. In quatrain 3, McKay used comments such as, " bold-eyed boys, and even the girls", to describe the crowds reaction to the dancer. The crowd is in awe of the dancer. Lastly, in his couplet, McKay says, " was not in that strange place", meaning she accepts who she is and where she is in her life. Harlem was seeing as a rebellion against the whites and it was seen as a ridiculous movement by blacks. Even though, she knew how people saw this movement, she was comfortable with the movement. This last quote also symbolizes how McKay sees the dancer. He looks at her false smile and analyzes who she is as a person.
In his poem, "The Harlem Dancer" McKay I seeing a performance by a beautiful black lady dancing in Harlem. McKay writes,"To me she seemed a proudly-swaying Palm" Claude McKay is in unrestrained awe because the Harlem Dancer lady is moving her body in a mannerly way but you exotic like a palm swaying through a storm. "...,tossing coins in praise, The wine-flushed, bold-eyes boys, and even the girls." The performer is receiving love and affection in two ways, the first by having coins tossed at her and secondly by having the boys bold their eyes out and even catching the ladies attention. The last line in the couplet, "I knew herself was not in that strange place." Claude knows that the performer is half naked, sings good, and especially dances good, but she fits on that stage and she's in no strange place if she is comfortable in a place that she knows.
Kyson Barnes In his poem, "The Harlem Dancer" ,Claude Mckay uses a Shakespearean sonnet to effectively convey the content and possibly reveals why he wrote the poem. Knowing that the poetic form of Shakespearean sonnet is a very old form of poetry originating from Europe one could ponder on why Claude chose this way to write. In the first quatrain Mckay writes, "Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes/And watched her perfect, half clothed body sway;". This initializes the setting in which people are watching a beautiful woman dance and sing for money in an urban setting. The content that he writes wouldn't typically be incorporated with this subject of writing but he does that for a reason. I feel as if the poet uses this to make somewhat of a parody out of this traditional form. He is a black poet describing what he is living in this form of poetry is not common. He uses it to not only deeply express how he feels toward this woman but also to convey why he writes it.
The form of Festus Claude McKay’s poem “Harlem Dancer” contributes largely to the poem. McKay writes his poem in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet, which leads to its surprise ending. Shakespearean Sonnets consist of fourteen lines or three quatrains and one couplet with a surprise ending or a summary of the previous twelve lines. In McKay’s poem “Harlem Dancer” a women is described as very entertaining with a sex appeal that many people like. The women is dressed in seductive clothes with a voice the crowd can’t resist. She is receiving money for her entertainment, and the first twelve line’s description portrays that the women is loving what she’s doing and truly enjoys entertaining the audience. In the couplet or last two lines the surprise comes when McKay states how he can tell the women truly does not like her job. McKay infers that she is going through a struggle and her job is a way for her to cover her problem up and temporarily feel safe.
In Festus Claude McKay's poem " Harlem Dancer", he uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey a message from the Harlem Renaissance time period. Festus Claude McKay's says, "But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/I knew herself was not in that strange place.". In this quote he states that the girl/dancer has been on stage before it is not her first time performing in front of people. She has gotten so used to all of the men and women devouring her with just looks that she has learned to fake a smile. A smile she puts on as she performs is hiding her true identity, her soul is being stripped away from her as she dances up there without even wanting to. The author seems to know here very well to be able to see and know that she is not showing her true emotions up on that stage, she is showing the audience what they want to see.
In his poem "Harlem Dancer" Festus Claude McKay uses a Spenserian Sonnet formate and inversion to highlight the meaning and content of the poem. The sonnet is an almost ancient form of poetry that by that time McKay used it was completely outdated. For someone familiar with the history of poetry it's evident that he purposefully used this formate, it could be distracting. McKay having a sonnet poem was an rebellious act to display that the assumption that people of his kind, the Harlem Renissence, aren't as articulate as the people from the Renaissance in Europe, Shakespeare. This can also be tooken as him making a connection. The renaissance is know for being one of the most influenual periods that left long term effects to this day, similar to the Romanticism Era which was driven by almost a coping mechanism from the people's environment. McKay could be relating these two periods to the Harlem Renaissance. He also uses inversion to convey the concept of a "strange world". For example his writes "Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls," the poem is pretty grammatically accurate until it gets to this part. McKay is talking about the damage that is done to the girl and describing the people that is doing the damage. They represent the strange world, New York because the dancer is beautiful and they're "devouring" her. He could be expanding on the idea that the city is a draining place to live in and something as pure as the girl wouldn't stay is way as long as she's in this world. The sonnet and inversion highlights the content because it brings attention to the text and helps the audience understand the meaning and background of the poem.
In the poem "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Claude McKay, he uses a shakespearean sonnet to show how he sees a woman entertainer. In his poem, McKay states that the female singer is beautiful, sexy, and has an amazin voice that no one can resist. Although the woman is beautiful and continues this "occupation", he also states that he can see what she is truly feeling. He notices that the female singer has went through many struggles and is hurting as a result of them, yet he continues to say that she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Also, McKay uses a Shakespearean Sonnet as a way to rebel against others. In that specific time frame "blacks" were not looked at as beautiful, so McKay's use of the Shakespearean Sonnet shows that defiance when he states that the woman's "swarthy" neck was beautiful. This poem can also relate to the Shakespearean Sonnet "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun in the way both poets use the inversion technique as they write. For example, McKay's statements like: "The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls, profusely fell, and tossing coins in praise" highlight the concept of the female singer being in a strange world where she did not really want to be but had to in order to survive. In addition, the Shakespearean Sonnet "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun" states that the wife of a man was really ugly (in the way he described her), but in the end said that she "belied" with false compare, meaning that the man actually believed that she (his wife) was still very beautiful. So, both poems use inversion to capture the real message that they wanted to get across.
In his poem “Harlem Dancer”, Festus Claudius says, “To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm / Grown lovelier for passing through a storm”. This shows that the dancer, to an average audience looks happy and competent dancing up on the Harlem stage. In reality, the dancer is not joyful, because she is a palm swaying in New York City, which is where palms don't exist. In addition, the “palm” that is swaying, is swaying in a storm not a summer's day, which shows the dancers unhappiness. The poet Claudius, uses the Shakespearean Sonnet to illustrate what he sees as beautiful, which is contradicting to what a traditional Shakespearean Sonnet consists of. Claudius writes, “Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls / Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,” This shows that, the poet finds women of color beautiful with their “shiny curls”. Poets that write Shakespearean Sonnets don't naturally write about woman of color, but at this time the Harlem Renaissance was happening, which celebrated African- American artistic achievements. Also Claudius was Jamaican-American poet, that just used the Shakespearean Sonnet’s structure, but wrote the sonnet in his own way.
The form of Festus Claude McKay's poem, the "Harlem Dancer" is like one huge contradiction. The genre of the poem is a Shakespearean Sonnet which is a common European poetry style. Festus is a Jamaican write and poet and is active in the Harlem Renaissance. In the poem Festus speaks of a dark skinned, scarcely clothed dancer who is deeply desired by those watching her. Festus compares the girl to a palm tree being swayed by a storm, and says that is what makes her beauty even more prevalent. The praise of this Jamaican woman in a predominantly European style of writing is like Festus' way of dancing to the beat of his own drum and honoring his culture in the form of writing of the people who degrade that same culture. Festus is making a statement, and is not letting societal barriers prevent him from sharing his culture and views.
In the poem "Harlem Dancer" the poet uses Shakespearean sonnet to convey his opinion on the seductive dancer. For example, Claude states how seductive and gives description to how the crowd reacts to her ways. The connection Claudes poem has is that many people parade over woman just by their simple actions and appearance, not knowing the truth of a women's story. When writing the sonnet Claude showed the truth behind all the descriptions of the dancing woman and how she's been through it all, which relates to his upbringing and how he had to go through racism as a poet. Although, many opinions on Claude's poetry was critiqued as "negro poetry" the message and imagery provided gave a more deep and broad view of the poets opinion of the woman dancer when writing as a Shakespeare sonnet.
In his poem "Harlem Dancer", Festus Claudius writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,/ The light gauze hanging loose about her form" Claudius begins to explain how the woman is graceful and calm while dancing. His use of the word gauze leads me to believe the dancer was wounded by her life and trying to repair it. However, since the dancer's bandage keeps falling off she has no way of healing completely. Therefore, she continues to dance with a fake smile on her face while the audience "devours" her leaving the dancer more wounded than she was before because she is forced to present herself to the public just to make it through in her life. In addition, Claudius writes in a Shakespearean sonnet form and breaks the traditional rules by having multiple semicolons and periods. By this I feel as if he is trying to portray the message of the poem. He refers to the woman as a palm tree in Harlem. However, its nearly impossible for palm trees to grow in that environment. Showing that no matter how hard the dancer tries, she may make it through the storm but she will not be able to grow in it and get out of that life that she despises.
In his poem, “Harlem Dancer”, Claude McKay uses Shakespearean (English) sonnet to form his poem. This gives background to McKay life growing up in an English colony learning to write in old English style. McKay style of writing was written during the Harlem Renaissance showing a rebirth for African-American culture by different forms of art. McKay writes,” But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place.” In this couplet shows, how McKay see the dancer accepts the way she is and in life. Its seems, McKay relationship with the dancer might be knowing her personally by analyzing her as she dance. The dancer had a similar background as the writer dealing with alienation from others and making their self feel welcome by dancing and being a poet.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer" , Cluade McKay uses is on twist of a Shakesperian Sonnet, to provide a sense of rebellion and to deffintiate himself. Claude's use of a Shakesperian sonnet structure helps the content of the poem and what he is trying to say. "Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls Profousley fell; and tossing coins in praise," in this part of his poem Claude seems to take pride into the woman's dark skin tone which was very uncommon during those times, Darker skin colors were seen as unattractive, For Claude to take pride in her skin tone he is showing rebellion. Claude's use of his own style of a Shakesperian sonnet gives the poem " Harlem Dancer" a style of rebellion from what is going on in Harlem durning the Harlem Renaissance.
In his poem "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses the genre of a Shakespearean Sonnet and imagery to show his own style of passion during the Harlem Renaissance. For example, McKay writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,/The light gauze hanging loose about her form;/To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm./". This shows how much he adored her the way she was though one could easily notice that she had been through a lot. This use of the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet allowed the speaker to express his raw emotions in an artistic way that people will hear. In addition, the author writes, "Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls/Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,/". This shows that her beauty was voluminously obvious to her audience and they appreciated her by throwing money to her. This use of imagery gives the reader insight to the way things were during times of the Renaissance and how black people were given the luxury of coin currency for their jobs and deeds no matter how they looked or acted. The use of imagery and the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet display the author's passion towards something he believed in. It was significant to do this in the fashion of a once praised type of poetry so that his perspective would be heard in way everyone could understand due to how hard it was for black people to have a voice during the Harlem Renaissance.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer" Claude McKay uses romanticism and imagery to show the combat of Shakespeare's sonnet:130. McKay is showing the descriptive image of the difference of passion vs. rationality.The time era of the poem was in the Harlem Renaissance during the 1900`s.McKay used hyperbole to demonstrate the exaggerated effect of social and political changes of the spread of nationalism.The figure of the Harlem Renaissance is the term of Greek Mythology.McKay writes,"Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes/ Blown by black players upon a picnic day".In response to the quote McKay is showing the ambiguous club in Harlem New York. The black players are the African American jazz players during the Harlem Renaissance.Jazz music was very popular during that time period of the cultural movement.McKay opposes Shakespeare's sonnet:130 to demonstrate the different ways of showing the other side of what love can truly be with more sympathy through compassion.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer" Claude McKay uses imagery and perspective to deliver a message that I found to be very eye-opening and enjoyable. The poem to start off, is written by a Jamaican man using an English style format. The usage of the format seemingly mocks the English who see themselves as superior to others. Clause fires shots at the English whites by using their format poem, and writing a poem to perfection that captivates the hearts of anyone who understands its meaning. Claude writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,-The light gauze hanging loose about her form;" The first line quoted may make it seem like she is an elegant performer, but as stated prior in the poem the woman is naked in an area surrounded by men and some women. After reading to there, it can be assumed that the woman is a stripper of some sort, performing her craft. The next line takes a turn hinting that the woman is in some sort of saddened situation. It is as if something is wrong, and the narrator can see it. The poem deals with the perspective of others saying how the men are captivated by her beauty. Then the narrator gives his own perspective saying "But, looking at her falsely-smiling face-I knew her self was not in that strange place." The narrator sees the perspective of the people watching the acts take place, along with his own perspective. He sees how beautiful she is, being a woman of color which contradicts English ideas. He sees the pain in her eyes, and the desperate nature she is in, just trying to make a living for herself. In connection to the English, it is truly an act of revolt to speak of the beauty of colored people to the English. Especially during the time which it was written where people of color were frowned apon by the whites. The poet is brave, in taking a chance like this, seemingly mocking the British format of poetry and then writing about the beauty and struggle of a colored woman. I found the poem to be eye opening, beautiful, elegant, and touching.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses an English sonnet to describe a women preforming in front of a crowd however the speaker can easily see through the fake smile she has set on her face. The speaker states, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm [....]To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm." The second quatrain is full of flowing words, the way the lines are smooth with no pauses. The structure is similar to the way the author describes the woman's movements in the poem. The speaker goes and says, "The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boy, and even the girls, devoured her with their eager, passionate gaze [....]". The third quatrain has more of a pause and is not smooth as the other quatrains. The less smooth quatrain aligns with the tone, there is no calm flow when describing the audience's reaction. In summary, the English sonnet aligns with the tone of the poem.
In the poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses imagery to describe his perspective in the poem. "To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". McKay describes how the prostitute dances by comparing her to a palm tree that is "proudly-swaying" describing how she elegantly dances in a horrible environment being the "storm". The poet says, "Upon her swarthy neck, shiny curls profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise, the wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls". McKay changes the rhythm to show the difference between light-hearted and darker part of the poem. For example the poet uses words like "gracefully" and phrases like "sound of blended flutes" in the beginning then uses "devoured" and "wine-flushed, bold-eyed" in the end.
In his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay writes, "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". Here the poet connects to the main character in a subliminal way. The poet shows that he knows the struggle of the prostitute lifestyle as he compares the prostitute to a palm that has gone through a storm. With this metaphor, McKay transforms the struggle of the prostitute, an otherwise painful situation, into something that is beautiful. In addition, McKay also uses the poem to connect to his roots. His use of adjectives such as "gracefully" and "calm", as well as his comparison of the prostitute to a palm, further elaborates on his previous life in the Caribbean. At various parts in the poem, McKay uses what he knows to make comparisons to the club scene of the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay writes, "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". Here the poet connects to the main character in a subliminal way. The poet shows that he knows the struggle of the prostitute lifestyle as he compares the prostitute to a palm that has gone through a storm. With this metaphor, McKay transforms the struggle of the prostitute, an otherwise painful situation, into something that is beautiful. In addition, McKay also uses the poem to connect to his roots. His use of adjectives such as "gracefully" and "calm", as well as his comparison of the prostitute to a palm, further elaborates on his previous life in the Caribbean. At various parts in the poem, McKay uses what he knows to make comparisons to the club scene of the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, "Harlem Dancer", Festus Claudius is describing a prostitute and how she looks outward. "To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm.../But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place." In this quote, the author is talking ng about how happy the women looks on the outside and that she carries herself well to the point that others who dont know her as well do not think that anything is wrong with her. In reality, the women has just gone through a lot but carries a good attitude. She is like a palm which has just gone through a storm. The prostitute is trying to make a living in New York and its not really working just like a palm tree would not survive in New York.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Claude the poet uses the Shakespearean sonnet form of quatrains to demonstrate the concept of the poem. For example, in the first and second quadtrains the flow of the periods, rhyme scheme, and colons are mellifluous. Comparing this to the concept of the poem, the women preformer is a preformer whose beauty and mellifluous voice captivated the audience. The poet says,"She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,The light gauze hanging loose about her form;To me she seemed a proudly-swaying Palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". The rhyme scheme is bcdc which blends evenly and the semi colons and periods are at the end of the lines. This is similar to the women in the poem who is graceful and beautiful swaying proudly because she has a appearance of something graceful. However the narrator compares her to a palm tree who has survived a passing storm. He is looking beneath her appearance seeing her as someone who is alienated because their beauty doesn't belong in a strange place; however he knows she is making it through. This shows how he sees her beauty as surviving while the men and women watching her see her outside appearance as beauty. Leading into the third quadtrain the flow of the semi colons are distorted and there is an inverted syntax. For example the poet says," Upon her swarthy neck black,shinny curls profusely fell;and, tossing coins in praise, the wine-flushed, bold eyed boys,and even the girls,Devoured her with their eager passionate gaze". This sequence distortion connects to the content of the poem because while everyone is allured by her the narrator notices her belied appearance. Festus Claudis uses this traditional form of writing correctly and still manipulates it to demonstrate what he is trying to say.
ReplyDeleteJourney Alexander as Joyce Alexander:
ReplyDeleteIn "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Cladius "Claude McKay, the poet uses a Shakespearean Sonnet form to convey the meaning of this poem. He maniuplates the form putting his own meaning into it.
"But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/I knew herself was not in that strange place." This quote shows the narrator can see past her beauty and into the reality of her world. Instead of what other see (lust) he sees this woman who is a 'diamond' in the rough. She is a woman who has experienced many things, but here she is prostituting herself out for money and pretending to be happy. The quatrains and how their organized sets the scene and describes the facade the woman puts up that only the narrator can see through.
QT: To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm
ReplyDeleteGrown lovelier for passing through a storm."
In the poem "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay in this quote describes the dancer with flowing diction and comparing her movements to familiar weather found in his home country; Storms in Jamaica. He talks about his country using an English sonnet, using the structure alone as a base and building off of it and forming it into his own unique poem. The poet envies the dancer and her movements and almost develops an indirect relationship with her just by describing her astonishing actions and beauty. Although while he sees her beauty, he knows that not all see true beauty and only see a set of nice legs and a pretty face to watch and throw money at, as if that were the way to appreciate a women and her beauty.
In the poem '' Harlem Dancer " by Festus Claudius , he uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey the content of the poem.Throughout the first quatrian Claudius the poet uses semi-colons and periods to address the women as seductive to the audience. For example Claudius says "And watched her perfect, half clothed body sway." The audience was captivated by the woman on stage and the audience only is seeing her outward appearence. As we get into the second and third quatrian, we see that the poet has a deeper connection with her than the rest of the audience. Claudius says" To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm." We can infer that the woman in the poem went through an bad experience by using words like " passing" and "storm". The poet also uses words like " seemed " nd we can infer that even though the woman seems calm and graceful she maybe putting up a front for the audience. In addition, when we get into the last couplet of the poem the poet says " But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place." The structure of the poem and its form describes the poet as seeing past her outward appearnce and how she is uncomfortable with the attention.
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ReplyDeleteThe form of Claude McKay's poem "Harlem dancer" is a shakesperean sonnet which is usually meant to be used for formal poems with proper content and already contrasts with the content of this poem. The speaker talks about a dancer that wear provocative
ReplyDeleteclothing for "youth" and "young prostitutes". The poem has 3 sentences with several semicolons that make different clauses each. The first two quatrains describe the beautiful side of this dancer and have two sentences each with orderly syntax. Each semicolon would symbolize a new physical characteristic of the dancer in the first two quatrains. The third quatrain has a different mood as the first two by using words like 'profusely', 'swarthy', and 'devoured'. The speaker begins to describe what the dancer experiences with her audience making it dark and almost demonic as they objectify her. This matches with the form of the quatrain as the syntax begins to become distorted and the semicolons aren't in order with the others showing how wrong it is what's happening to her. In the couplet the third sentence ends giving a new look at the theme like sonnets usually do. We see that the dancer seems like she doesn't want to be in Harlem as a dancer feeling alienated by these people that 'devour' her but she does it anyway. It's then implied that the speaker then admires her more for not only how beautiful she is but how much she endures in a strange place.
This is Jeremiah Cottman's post. In the poem "Harlem Dancer" Festus Claudius speaks of a dancing prostitute using Shakespeare's sonnet form of writing to describe his message. He writes "She sang and danced on graceful and calm, the light gauze hanging loose about her form; to me she seemed a proudly swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm." The prostitute has gone through a rough experience. She dances and sings gracefully but in reality she is not happy with what she is doing. Claudius sees this unhappiness and admires her for putting on a smile even though she has been through rough times. The poem also says a lot about Claudius. In order for Claudius to see the prostitute's unhappiness he must have gone through a rough experience also. Those who fight through pain can see the pain in others.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey the content of his poem. The first quatrain uses comments like, "Half-Clothed Body", to describe the street dancers appearance. The second quatrain uses comments like, " proudly-swaying Palm", to describe the performers dance. Palm trees sway and are calm and graceful, he compares her to them. In quatrain 3, McKay used comments such as, " bold-eyed boys, and even the girls", to describe the crowds reaction to the dancer. The crowd is in awe of the dancer. Lastly, in his couplet, McKay says, " was not in that strange place", meaning she accepts who she is and where she is in her life. Harlem was seeing as a rebellion against the whites and it was seen as a ridiculous movement by blacks. Even though, she knew how people saw this movement, she was comfortable with the movement. This last quote also symbolizes how McKay sees the dancer. He looks at her false smile and analyzes who she is as a person.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "The Harlem Dancer" McKay I seeing a performance by a beautiful black lady dancing in Harlem. McKay writes,"To me she seemed a proudly-swaying Palm" Claude McKay is in unrestrained awe because the Harlem Dancer lady is moving her body in a mannerly way but you exotic like a palm swaying through a storm. "...,tossing coins in praise, The wine-flushed, bold-eyes boys, and even the girls." The performer is receiving love and affection in two ways, the first by having coins tossed at her and secondly by having the boys bold their eyes out and even catching the ladies attention. The last line in the couplet, "I knew herself was not in that strange place." Claude knows that the performer is half naked, sings good, and especially dances good, but she fits on that stage and she's in no strange place if she is comfortable in a place that she knows.
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ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "The Harlem Dancer" ,Claude Mckay uses a Shakespearean sonnet to effectively convey the content and possibly reveals why he wrote the poem. Knowing that the poetic form of Shakespearean sonnet is a very old form of poetry originating from Europe one could ponder on why Claude chose this way to write. In the first quatrain Mckay writes, "Applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes/And watched her perfect, half clothed body sway;". This initializes the setting in which people are watching a beautiful woman dance and sing for money in an urban setting. The content that he writes wouldn't typically be incorporated with this subject of writing but he does that for a reason. I feel as if the poet uses this to make somewhat of a parody out of this traditional form. He is a black poet describing what he is living in this form of poetry is not common. He uses it to not only deeply express how he feels toward this woman but also to convey why he writes it.
The form of Festus Claude McKay’s poem “Harlem Dancer” contributes largely to the poem. McKay writes his poem in the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet, which leads to its surprise ending. Shakespearean Sonnets consist of fourteen lines or three quatrains and one couplet with a surprise ending or a summary of the previous twelve lines. In McKay’s poem “Harlem Dancer” a women is described as very entertaining with a sex appeal that many people like. The women is dressed in seductive clothes with a voice the crowd can’t resist. She is receiving money for her entertainment, and the first twelve line’s description portrays that the women is loving what she’s doing and truly enjoys entertaining the audience. In the couplet or last two lines the surprise comes when McKay states how he can tell the women truly does not like her job. McKay infers that she is going through a struggle and her job is a way for her to cover her problem up and temporarily feel safe.
ReplyDeleteIn Festus Claude McKay's poem " Harlem Dancer", he uses a Shakespearean sonnet to convey a message from the Harlem Renaissance time period. Festus Claude McKay's says, "But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/I knew herself was not in that strange place.". In this quote he states that the girl/dancer has been on stage before it is not her first time performing in front of people. She has gotten so used to all of the men and women devouring her with just looks that she has learned to fake a smile. A smile she puts on as she performs is hiding her true identity, her soul is being stripped away from her as she dances up there without even wanting to. The author seems to know here very well to be able to see and know that she is not showing her true emotions up on that stage, she is showing the audience what they want to see.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem "Harlem Dancer" Festus Claude McKay uses a Spenserian Sonnet formate and inversion to highlight the meaning and content of the poem. The sonnet is an almost ancient form of poetry that by that time McKay used it was completely outdated. For someone familiar with the history of poetry it's evident that he purposefully used this formate, it could be distracting. McKay having a sonnet poem was an rebellious act to display that the assumption that people of his kind, the Harlem Renissence, aren't as articulate as the people from the Renaissance in Europe, Shakespeare. This can also be tooken as him making a connection. The renaissance is know for being one of the most influenual periods that left long term effects to this day, similar to the Romanticism Era which was driven by almost a coping mechanism from the people's environment. McKay could be relating these two periods to the Harlem Renaissance. He also uses inversion to convey the concept of a "strange world". For example his writes "Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls," the poem is pretty grammatically accurate until it gets to this part. McKay is talking about the damage that is done to the girl and describing the people that is doing the damage. They represent the strange world, New York because the dancer is beautiful and they're "devouring" her. He could be expanding on the idea that the city is a draining place to live in and something as pure as the girl wouldn't stay is way as long as she's in this world. The sonnet and inversion highlights the content because it brings attention to the text and helps the audience understand the meaning and background of the poem.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem "Harlem Dancer" by Festus Claude McKay, he uses a shakespearean sonnet to show how he sees a woman entertainer. In his poem, McKay states that the female singer is beautiful, sexy, and has an amazin voice that no one can resist. Although the woman is beautiful and continues this "occupation", he also states that he can see what she is truly feeling. He notices that the female singer has went through many struggles and is hurting as a result of them, yet he continues to say that she is the most beautiful thing he has ever seen. Also, McKay uses a Shakespearean Sonnet as a way to rebel against others. In that specific time frame "blacks" were not looked at as beautiful, so McKay's use of the Shakespearean Sonnet shows that defiance when he states that the woman's "swarthy" neck was beautiful. This poem can also relate to the Shakespearean Sonnet "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun in the way both poets use the inversion technique as they write. For example, McKay's statements like: "The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls, profusely fell, and tossing coins in praise" highlight the concept of the female singer being in a strange world where she did not really want to be but had to in order to survive. In addition, the Shakespearean Sonnet "My Mistress' Eyes are Nothing Like the Sun" states that the wife of a man was really ugly (in the way he described her), but in the end said that she "belied" with false compare, meaning that the man actually believed that she (his wife) was still very beautiful. So, both poems use inversion to capture the real message that they wanted to get across.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem “Harlem Dancer”, Festus Claudius says, “To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm / Grown lovelier for passing through a storm”. This shows that the dancer, to an average audience looks happy and competent dancing up on the Harlem stage. In reality, the dancer is not joyful, because she is a palm swaying in New York City, which is where palms don't exist. In addition, the “palm” that is swaying, is swaying in a storm not a summer's day, which shows the dancers unhappiness. The poet Claudius, uses the Shakespearean Sonnet to illustrate what he sees as beautiful, which is contradicting to what a traditional Shakespearean Sonnet consists of. Claudius writes, “Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls / Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,” This shows that, the poet finds women of color beautiful with their “shiny curls”. Poets that write Shakespearean Sonnets don't naturally write about woman of color, but at this time the Harlem Renaissance was happening, which celebrated African- American artistic achievements. Also Claudius was Jamaican-American poet, that just used the Shakespearean Sonnet’s structure, but wrote the sonnet in his own way.
ReplyDeleteThe form of Festus Claude McKay's poem, the "Harlem Dancer" is like one huge contradiction. The genre of the poem is a Shakespearean Sonnet which is a common European poetry style. Festus is a Jamaican write and poet and is active in the Harlem Renaissance. In the poem Festus speaks of a dark skinned, scarcely clothed dancer who
ReplyDeleteis deeply desired by those watching her. Festus compares the girl to a palm tree being swayed by a storm, and says that is what makes her beauty even more prevalent. The praise of this Jamaican woman in a predominantly European style of writing is like Festus' way of dancing to the beat of his own drum and honoring his culture in the form of writing of the people who degrade that same culture. Festus is making a statement, and is not letting societal barriers prevent him from sharing his culture and views.
In the poem "Harlem Dancer" the poet uses Shakespearean sonnet to convey his opinion on the seductive dancer. For example, Claude states how seductive and gives description to how the crowd reacts to her ways. The connection Claudes poem has is that many people parade over woman just by their simple actions and appearance, not knowing the truth of a women's story. When writing the sonnet Claude showed the truth behind all the descriptions of the dancing woman and how she's been through it all, which relates to his upbringing and how he had to go through racism as a poet. Although, many opinions on Claude's poetry was critiqued as "negro poetry" the message and imagery provided gave a more deep and broad view of the poets opinion of the woman dancer when writing as a Shakespeare sonnet.
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ReplyDeleteIn his poem "Harlem Dancer", Festus Claudius writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,/ The light gauze hanging loose about her form" Claudius begins to explain how the woman is graceful and calm while dancing. His use of the word gauze leads me to believe the dancer was wounded by her life and trying to repair it. However, since the dancer's bandage keeps falling off she has no way of healing completely. Therefore, she continues to dance with a fake smile on her face while the audience "devours" her leaving the dancer more wounded than she was before because she is forced to present herself to the public just to make it through in her life. In addition, Claudius writes in a Shakespearean sonnet form and breaks the traditional rules by having multiple semicolons and periods. By this I feel as if he is trying to portray the message of the poem. He refers to the woman as a palm tree in Harlem. However, its nearly impossible for palm trees to grow in that environment. Showing that no matter how hard the dancer tries, she may make it through the storm but she will not be able to grow in it and get out of that life that she despises.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, “Harlem Dancer”, Claude McKay uses Shakespearean (English) sonnet to form his poem. This gives background to McKay life growing up in an English colony learning to write in old English style. McKay style of writing was written during the Harlem Renaissance showing a rebirth for African-American culture by different forms of art. McKay writes,” But, looking at her falsely-smiling face/ I knew her self was not in that strange place.” In this couplet shows, how McKay see the dancer accepts the way she is and in life. Its seems, McKay relationship with the dancer might be knowing her personally by analyzing her as she dance. The dancer had a similar background as the writer dealing with alienation from others and making their self feel welcome by dancing and being a poet.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer" , Cluade McKay uses is on twist of a Shakesperian Sonnet, to provide a sense of rebellion and to deffintiate himself. Claude's use of a Shakesperian sonnet structure helps the content of the poem and what he is trying to say. "Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls Profousley fell; and tossing coins in praise," in this part of his poem Claude seems to take pride into the woman's dark skin tone which was very uncommon during those times, Darker skin colors were seen as unattractive, For Claude to take pride in her skin tone he is showing rebellion. Claude's use of his own style of a Shakesperian sonnet gives the poem " Harlem Dancer" a style of rebellion from what is going on in Harlem durning the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses the genre of a Shakespearean Sonnet and imagery to show his own style of passion during the Harlem Renaissance. For example, McKay writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,/The light gauze hanging loose about her form;/To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm/Grown lovelier for passing through a storm./". This shows how much he adored her the way she was though one could easily notice that she had been through a lot. This use of the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet allowed the speaker to express his raw emotions in an artistic way that people will hear. In addition, the author writes, "Upon her swarthy neck black, shiny curls/Profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise,/". This shows that her beauty was voluminously obvious to her audience and they appreciated her by throwing money to her. This use of imagery gives the reader insight to the way things were during times of the Renaissance and how black people were given the luxury of coin currency for their jobs and deeds no matter how they looked or acted. The use of imagery and the form of a Shakespearean Sonnet display the author's passion towards something he believed in. It was significant to do this in the fashion of a once praised type of poetry so that his perspective would be heard in way everyone could understand due to how hard it was for black people to have a voice during the Harlem Renaissance.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer" Claude McKay uses romanticism and imagery to show the combat of Shakespeare's sonnet:130. McKay is showing the descriptive image of the difference of passion vs. rationality.The time era of the poem was in the Harlem Renaissance during the 1900`s.McKay used hyperbole to demonstrate the exaggerated effect of social and political changes of the spread of nationalism.The figure of the Harlem Renaissance is the term of Greek Mythology.McKay writes,"Her voice was like the sound of blended flutes/ Blown by black players upon a picnic day".In response to the quote McKay is showing the ambiguous club in Harlem New York. The black players are the African American jazz players during the Harlem Renaissance.Jazz music was very popular during that time period of the cultural movement.McKay opposes Shakespeare's sonnet:130 to demonstrate the different ways of showing the other side of what love can truly be with more sympathy through compassion.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer" Claude McKay uses imagery and perspective to deliver a message that I found to be very eye-opening and enjoyable. The poem to start off, is written by a Jamaican man using an English style format. The usage of the format seemingly mocks the English who see themselves as superior to others. Clause fires shots at the English whites by using their format poem, and writing a poem to perfection that captivates the hearts of anyone who understands its meaning. Claude writes, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm,-The light gauze hanging loose about her form;" The first line quoted may make it seem like she is an elegant performer, but as stated prior in the poem the woman is naked in an area surrounded by men and some women. After reading to there, it can be assumed that the woman is a stripper of some sort, performing her craft. The next line takes a turn hinting that the woman is in some sort of saddened situation. It is as if something is wrong, and the narrator can see it. The poem deals with the perspective of others saying how the men are captivated by her beauty. Then the narrator gives his own perspective saying "But, looking at her falsely-smiling face-I knew her self was not in that strange place." The narrator sees the perspective of the people watching the acts take place, along with his own perspective. He sees how beautiful she is, being a woman of color which contradicts English ideas. He sees the pain in her eyes, and the desperate nature she is in, just trying to make a living for herself. In connection to the English, it is truly an act of revolt to speak of the beauty of colored people to the English. Especially during the time which it was written where people of color were frowned apon by the whites. The poet is brave, in taking a chance like this, seemingly mocking the British format of poetry and then writing about the beauty and struggle of a colored woman. I found the poem to be eye opening, beautiful, elegant, and touching.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses an English sonnet to describe a women preforming in front of a crowd however the speaker can easily see through the fake smile she has set on her face. The speaker states, "She sang and danced on gracefully and calm [....]To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm." The second quatrain is full of flowing words, the way the lines are smooth with no pauses. The structure is similar to the way the author describes the woman's movements in the poem. The speaker goes and says, "The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boy, and even the girls, devoured her with their eager, passionate gaze [....]". The third quatrain has more of a pause and is not smooth as the other quatrains. The less smooth quatrain aligns with the tone, there is no calm flow when describing the audience's reaction. In summary, the English sonnet aligns with the tone of the poem.
ReplyDeleteIn the poem, "Harlem Dancer", Claude McKay uses imagery to describe his perspective in the poem. "To me she seemed a proudly-swaying palm grown lovelier for passing through a storm". McKay describes how the prostitute dances by comparing her to a palm tree that is "proudly-swaying" describing how she elegantly dances in a horrible environment being the "storm". The poet says, "Upon her swarthy neck, shiny curls profusely fell; and, tossing coins in praise, the wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls". McKay changes the rhythm to show the difference between light-hearted and darker part of the poem. For example the poet uses words like "gracefully" and phrases like "sound of blended flutes" in the beginning then uses "devoured" and "wine-flushed, bold-eyed" in the end.
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