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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 two lines of each stanza create a kind of refrain in this poem?
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. What color does the speaker assign to the sex workers' feet?
5. In line 1, "footsteps of a lass" is an example of which technique?
Short Essay Questions
1. Where is Harlem and why is it significant to the meaning of this poem?
2. How does the use of the word "prowling" contrast with the poem's previous descriptions of the women?
3. What does the poem conclude is the cause of the women's choice to pursue sex work?
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. What indications does the speaker give that he feels the sex workers' choices indicate something about all Black people in America?
7. Describe the form of this poem.
8. How does McKay convey the idea that these women are sex workers?
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 "America" (widely available online). Note the use of antithesis in this poem. How is it similar to the use of antithesis in "Harlem Shadows"? How is it different? Write a comparison and contrast of the use of antithesis in these two poems. Show how the technique is used in each poem and offer commentary on its purposes. 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 3
What is the significance of McKay's use of the word "brown" to describe his race? How does this separate the racial idea of "Blackness" from the way dark is being used in the poem? How does using the color white to refer to snow but never using the word "black" to refer to any of the dark things in the poem function in the same way? Write an essay in which you show how McKay is able to use traditional literary symbolism of dark and light/black and white without implying that Blackness in racial terms is associated with any of the negative qualities attributed to darkness or the color black in literature. Support your observations with both quoted and paraphrased evidence drawn from throughout the poem, and be sure to cite quoted evidence in MLA format.
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This section contains 944 words (approx. 4 pages at 300 words per page) |
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