Analysis of If We Must Die
Claude McKay 1889 (Clarendon Parish) – 1948 (Chicago)
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!
Scheme | ABABCDCDEFEFGG |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Shakespearean sonnet |
Metre | 1111111111 10010101001 1111010101 1011110111 1111111101 11101011111 01110010101 1101110111 111110101 111011111 0111011111 1101110101 111101001001 1101101101 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 600 |
Words | 117 |
Sentences | 8 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 14 |
Lines Amount | 14 |
Letters per line (avg) | 34 |
Words per line (avg) | 8 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 469 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 115 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on May 03, 2023
- 35 sec read
- 468 Views
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"If We Must Die" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 24 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/6865/if-we-must-die>.
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