Imagery In The Poem 'America' By Claude Mckay

Prophecy in the Sands
From its sweeping bigness, vigor and hatred, McKay personifies America as a woman who is treating him, the citizen, terribly, but he still loves her in spite of the abuse. Claude McKay's
"America" uses similes, rhythm, and violent imagery to illustrate how there is no hope for the future that is better than the abuse we have in the present. The narrator that McKay created is one that greatly mirrors that of an African American in the Harlem Renaissance that is being torn in two directions: love and hate for America. “America” acts as a magnifying glass for that time, but also is a prophecy for the times to come.
Although Claude McKay never mentions America beyond the title of the poem, the feeling of the country is constant.

Describing a woman who is intoxicating but also severely toxic. A poem by any other name wouldn’t sound as sweet, to paraphrase Shakespeare. The use of imagery works in tandem with similes to create the feeling of the abuse and cynicism that America offers.
The use of violent imagery is prolific throughout this poem. “And sinks into my throat her tigers tooth,/ stealing my breath of life,” (2­3) uses jarring words to catch the audiences’ attention, but to also exemplify the constant pain the narrator experiences. The word sinking appears in one other line of the poem, “Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand,” (14) bookending the poem with harsh and cynical imagery. The sinking of the tiger’s tooth represents the painful presence of oppression he constantly feels, the pain from a powerful and enigmatic being. The abuse that narrator has felt has transformed the length of time. This poem is written as a half warning and half love letter to America, claiming that if it keeps acting this way it will end up as a treasure sinking in the sand and forgotten. The prophecy is much more than that. The lines “Stealing

The use of rhyming emphasizes this idea, the AB scheme rhyming with lines that seemingly compliment each other.
“Beneath the touch of time’s unerring hand,/like priceless treasures sinking in the sand”(13­14).
What makes America great and what it is known for is diminishing. A clear reference to Percy
Bysshe Shelley’s Ozymandias. The King in Shelley’s poem created such beautiful things as a testament to himself, but they have a worn away by time and by the sands. The sands destroy what was once great, leveling great monuments. The destruction of what America is and why he is willing to tolerate the hate is not going to make it over the years. Time is always right, and the sand will level it into nothing.
To accomplish many things at once, “America” uses imagery, simile, metaphors, and rhyming.
Sitting silent while knowing what has happened to the narrator, to the people he writes too is one of the sins and warnings throughout the poem. The hate didn’t end when it was written, Eric
Garner, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and countless others are a testament to the prophecy of this country. Civil rights and electing an African­ American President are stepping ­stones, but