Harlem Shadows (1922) is a poetry collection by Claude McKay.
Published at the height of the Harlem Renaissance, Harlem Shadows
earned praise from legendary poet and political activist Max
Eastman for its depictions of urban life and the technical mastery
of its author. As a committed leftist, McKay-who grew up in
Jamaica-captures the life of Harlem from a realist's point of view,
lamenting the poverty of its African American community while
celebrating their resilience and cultural achievement. In "The
White City," McKay observes New York, its "poles and spires and
towers vapor-kissed" and "fortressed port through which the great
ships pass." Filled him with a hatred of the inhuman scene of
industry and power, forced to "muse [his] life-long hate," he
observes the transformative quality of focused anger: "My being
would be a skeleton, a shell, / If this dark Passion that fills my
every mood, / And makes my heaven in the white world's hell, / Did
not forever feed me vital blood." Rather than fall into despair, he
channels his hatred into a revolutionary spirit, allowing him to
stand tall within "the mighty city." In "The Tropics in New York,"
he walks past a window filled with "Bananas ripe and green, and
ginger-root, / Cocoa in pods and alligator pears," a feast of fresh
tropical fruit that brings him back, however briefly, to his island
home of Jamaica. Recording his nostalgic response, McKay captures
his personal experience as an immigrant in America: "My eyes grew
dim, and I could no more gaze; / A wave of longing through my body
swept, / And, hungry for the old, familiar ways, / I turned aside
and bowed my head and wept." With a beautifully designed cover and
professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of Claude McKay's
Harlem Shadows is a classic of Jamaican literature reimagined for
modern readers.
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