        In the metrical composition If We moldiness Die by Claude McKay, the origin cries out to his au demotence -to his workforce at arms- to fight masking against those that oppress them and ar intent to kill them. Though non as rich in poetic symbolism as the poems by Emily Dickinson and George Herbert, McKays poem evokes a stronger and to a greater extent inspiring steamy reaction. He achieves this through his rhyme and rhythm scheme, through head rhyme and repetition, and through animal imagery. They shall be examined in reverse order.
        The graduation dickens take ins of McKays poem, If we moldiness dissect, permit it not be bid hogs / Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, establishes an animal theme, which is continued passim the rest of the poem. McKay r separatelyes out to the interview with intent to inspire them to action. The audience becomes a hunted animal. In lines three and quaternion, While turn of events us bark the mad and hungry dogs, / Making their jeer at our accursed lot, McKay portrays the adversary as a swarm of wild dogs intent on killing the s beaker and his kinsmen. His picking of lyric poem, specifically mock, is particularly effective in drawing a reaction from the audience. The opponent is not only intent on killing them, but mocks them in the attempt. situations five through eight turn the animal allusions a bit as McKay noble-minded the differences between his kinsmen and their attackers. He repeats his cry that, If we must die, O let us nobly die, / So that our precious blood whitethorn not be shed / in vain. His kinsmen are more(prenominal) than mere animals. They shall not be penned in and slaughtered standardised hogs. They are noble men with precious blood, blood which will not be spilt so easily. If McKay and his br early(a)s are able to do merely this, wherefore even the monsters (they) defy / Shall be constrained to recognise (them) though dead! Thus, even in the undeniable compositors case of death, McKay gives hope to those around him. In lines 9 through 12, he calls them to arms against the common foe and cries that though far outnumbered they must show their bravery. The reader stands among McKay and his kinsmen as one who is about to die and feels the bond of that group strengthened by his nomenclature. For their thousand blows he asks that they but strike one coup de grace! A deathblow that will near probably signify their own deaths. It is when the audience hears that they have nothing left for themselves but the open grave, McKays words make his attendants stronger than ever. Nothing fights harder than an animal backed into a time out with nowhere to go…unless it is a man backed into the corner. And that is what McKays words shout. We are men and standardised men well face the murderous, frightful work party. With these words, the transition from hunted hogs to brave and noble men is complete. heretofore though, the adversary is nothing more than a cowardly pack of mad and hungry dogs. And McKay and his audience will face these animals, not hunted and penned in an inglorious spot but touch to the wall, dying, but fighting back! Such words are strong enough to impassion most hearts, but the use of alliteration and repetition improves upon it.
        In McKays poem, alliteration is used about four times. Examples of this house be chit-chatn in lines 4, 9, and 11 in phrases like making their mock, must meet, and deal one deathblow. If one continues down feather line 13 to 14 then pack / touch is also an manakin of alliteration. Repetition is used much less, though arguably more effectively, as when McKay repeats the call to his kinsmen, If we must die… and unifying his men in line 10 as he says let us show us brave.
It is when examining the poem as a whole, however, that a person can devour how McKay uses many of the same characteristics of a Shakespearean sonnet, and thus hush follows a traditional theme. The rhyme scheme follows the traditional ABAB salmagundi with fourteen lines and there are five stressed syllables for each line. Despite this, however, iambic pentameter is not maintained throughout the full(a) poem and thus it is disqualified as a true(p) Shakespearean sonnet. An example of iambic pentameter being followed can be seen in line 3 While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, and yet on the other hand, one can see a prime example of this pattern being broken in the last line, touch to the wall, dying, but fighting back! But forgetting all of that, this amateur believes that the most interesting thing to notice, and to focus on, is the syllabic pattern.
In general, it seemed that McKay was attempting to stick to ten syllables for each line, and at a glance it seems that he succeeded. On closer inspection, however, examples of excessive syllable usage can be found in both line two and line thirteen. A tyro may find this suspect since it is both the second and the second to the last line that most clearly stray from the ten syllable pattern. Instead they have cardinal syllables. One could guess that McKays reason for this is to establish a peak at the beginning of his poem in order to take hold of the emotion and attention of his audience. While the second to the last line is that last cry to fight, a cresc intercepto that is meant to inspire his men. A critic might say this. However, another critic would be just as justified in saying that McKay was really trying to follow the ten-syllable pattern and was (barely) able to squeeze it in. To see this, one must carefully examine both of the lines. Line 2, Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot sounds off like hun-ted and penned in an in-glor-ri-us spot. Eleven syllables. Inglorious though can be easily squeezed into three rather than four syllables, such as in the pronunciation in-glor-yus. As for line thirteen, Like men well face the murderous cowardly pack, the reader runs into the same bother with the words murderous and cowardly. If a person wants to force it (or if McKay wants to rather) then murderous can be enounce murd-rus. Cowardly is more difficult though. In order for it to work, it would have to be pronounced cow-dly. A pinch, but workable if someone wants to see it that way. This critic prefers the idea of a crescendo at the beginning and end rather than the idea of the syllables being squeezed in. Poetically it gives more subject matter to the poem and makes it sound better. It also gives McKay more credibility as an artist.
So while McKays reasons for following rhyme and rhythm are a bit questionable, his oratory skills are nonetheless to be applauded. If We Must Die is an inspiring piece of work that truly causes the listener to stand up and look for something to fight, tooth and nail, to the death.
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