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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 8 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Which lines of each stanza are indented?

2. In line 16, what word does the speaker use to describe the feet of his own race?

3. What ideas are associated with the snow in this poem?

4. In lines 2 and 3, the expression "when the night lets fall/ Its veil" is an example of which technique?

5. What are the sex workers wearing on their feet?

Short Essay Questions

1. How does McKay convey the idea that these women are sex workers?

2. What indications does the speaker give that he feels the sex workers' choices indicate something about all Black people in America?

3. How does the use of the word "prowling" contrast with the poem's previous descriptions of the women?

4. How does the second stanza set up a contrast between dark and light?

5. What is the poem's first image, and how does it set a tone for the rest of the poem?

6. Describe the form of this poem.

7. Where is Harlem and why is it significant to the meaning of this poem?

8. What does the poem conclude is the cause of the women's choice to pursue sex work?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

What is the purpose of including musical devices like alliteration, assonance, consonance, and sibilance in "Harlem Shadows"? If McKay wanted the reader to notice these, why not make them more obvious? What value might they serve at an almost subliminal level? How does the effect they create support the poem's subject matter and tone, and what does it add to the reader's understanding of the poem's meaning? Write an essay in which you consider how McKay employs these devices, and why. Support your observations with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.

Essay Topic 2

Read Claude McKay's poem "On Broadway" (widely available online). In this poem, you will also see a speaker immersed in a New York environment, observing a nighttime scene. You will see the personification of desire as well as references to feet, the heart, and ceaseless motion. All of these elements are very like "Harlem Shadows"--but the intent of "On Broadway" is very different. Write an essay comparing and contrasting these two poems. Show how it is possible for two poems by the same author to have so many elements in common and yet convey very different ideas about life. Be sure to support your assertions with evidence from both poems and to cite your sources in MLA format.

Essay Topic 3

Choose another of McKay's poems and write an essay that compares and contrasts it with "Harlem Shadows," using biographical information about McKay to illuminate the similarities and differences between the two poems. (For the second poem, do not choose a McKay poem already discussed in class.) Your goal is not to analyze these poems but to demonstrate how the two poems reflect Claude McKay's era, his typical subject matter, and his style. Support your arguments with both quoted and paraphrased evidence from both poems, and be sure to cite all evidence--including outside sources--in MLA format.

(see the answer keys)

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