Songs of Jamaica

Songs of Jamaica (1912) is a poetry collection by Claude McKay. Published before the poet left Jamaica for the United States, Songs of Jamaica is a pioneering collection of verse written in Jamaican Patois, the first of its kind. As a committed leftist, McKay was a keen observer of the Black experience in the Caribbean, the American South, and later in New York, where he gained a reputation during the Harlem Renaissance for celebrating the resilience and cultural achievement of the African American community while lamenting the poverty and violence they faced every day. "Quashie to Buccra," the opening poem, frames this schism in terms of labor, as one class labors to fulfill the desires of another: "You tase petater an you say it sweet, / But you no know how hard we wuk fe it; / You want a basketful fe quattiewut, / Cause you no know how tiff de bush fe cut." Addressing himself to a white audience, he exposes the schism inherent to colonial society between white and black, rich and poor. Advising his white reader to question their privileged consumption, dependent as it is on the subjugation of Jamaicas black community, McKay warns that "hardship always melt away / Wheneber it comes roun to reapin day." This revolutionary sentiment carries throughout Songs of Jamaica, finding an echo in the brilliant poem "Whe fe do?" Addressed to his own people, McKay offers hope for a brighter future to come: "We needn fold we han an cry, / Nor vex we heart wid groan and sigh; / De best we can do is fe try / To fight de despair drawin night: / Den we might conquer by an by- / Dat we might do."

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