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If We Must Die by Claude McKay

10/15/2008 6:24:41 PM
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Claude McKay
(1889 - 1948)
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79 poems of Claude McKay

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If We Must Die
 
  If we must die, let it not be like hogs
Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot,
While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,
Making their mock at our accursèd lot.
If we must die, O let us nobly die,
So that our precious blood may not be shed
In vain; then even the monsters we defy
Shall be constrained to honor us though dead!
O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!
Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,
And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!
What though before us lies the open grave?
Like men we'll face the murderous, cowardly pack,
Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!

Claude McKay


Read poems about / on: death, dog, hunting

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Shane Clawson (2/29/2008 7:45:00 PM)
This poem is in my english prep text book. The beginning started good, but the rest got me confuzzled......
Crnc Fnly (12/2/2007 5:44:00 PM)
This poem was written during the Harlem Renaissance period. It was written as a millitant response to a Harlem race riot. McKay expresses active resistance throughout the poem.

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10/15/2008 6:24:41 PM. You Are Here: If We Must Die by Claude McKay

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