Claude McKay
Festus Claudius McKay, aka Eli Edwards, was born in Jamaica on September 15, 1889. His parents were farmers and he was the youngest of eleven children. Twenty-three years of his life were spent in Jamaica and from there he would immigrate to the United States. Claude McKay was known as an internationalist because he traveled far and wide to several different countries. His travels and experiences in the range of countries he visited, played a key part in shaping McKay's ideas. These ideas would forge powerful messages that McKay expressed in a unique, artistic way. The Harlem Renaissance was in its early stages during the time McKay wrote. An African American poet, known as Alain Locke, had developed a concept of "the New Negro" during the Harlem Renaissance. Locke had a vi
The ability to express feeling and emotion through art is art for the sake of art. McKay began as a romantic poet writing about the primitive joys of Jamaican life. His ideas were based on breaking away from the society influenced "black" art and rather developing art without any racial bounds. Many of his works show how he would not be subjected to evil, lowly levels of hatred. He believed that the bitterness penned inside the "Negro" is what gave them the motivation to project beautiful creations. McKay disagreed with these very ideas and was considered an outcast from the New Negro Alliance. McKay believed that the beauty of art was only expressed through genuine emotion. The beauty of his transformation was that instead of resorting to violence, he vented through his writings. " This poem was written during the times of the Chicago race riots. Passionate feeling put into artwork and inspiration through life's experiences, is the very essence of the African American culture. McKay shows power to defy and fight back in renowned poems such as "If We Must Die. Like a common saying, "what doesn't kill us only makes us stronger," the hatred in America only forges the strength of the African American. It showed how McKay and others would lash back at the evil actions projected against them. Venting this negative energy into works of art was considered by McKay to be true art. McKay's exposure and witness to the atrocities being shown towards African Americans in the United States slowly transformed him from a romantic to a radical.
Common topics in this essay:
African American,
Alliance McKay,
Americans United,
Claude McKay,
African Americans,
Jamaica September,
Harlem Renaissance,
Baynard HE240/5011,
african american,
Alain Locke,
Renaissance Locke,
true art,
art sake art,
harlem renaissance,
emotion art,
makes stronger,
art mckay,
mckay argued,
mckay true,
hatred america,
sake art,
|
Acceptance Essays
