by Aaron Dollhausen

Created on: September 23, 2010

 I Am Not a Fiend

Claude McKay’s poem “To the White Fiends” creates a narrator that uses the form of a sonnet to challenge racial stereotypes. The narrator uses poetry to work through their anger instead of resorting to violence. By choosing poetry over violence, the narrator reverses racist perceptions. 

This poem uses the structure of a sonnet and the metrical pattern of iambic pentameter to lend rhythm and elegance to the narrator’s voice. The poem’s rhyme scheme mostly follows end rhyme pattern of ABBAABBA CDCDCD which helps the poem flow smoothly between lines. However, the sonnet’s two final lines use slant rhyme instead. The first stanza expresses strong negative emotions while the second stanza shifts to a more positive tone.

The title of the poem, “To the White Fiends” focuses on racial tensions. This suggests that the narrator is not white. The narrator later clarifies that they are black, shown by the familial “black brothers” in line 4 and by indicating that they are “Afric’s son” in line 6. Since the title focuses on “White Fiends” the narrator suggests that the poem specifically targets whites who are fiends and not all whites. The narrator further explains why these particular whites are fiends by indicating actions that are fiendish in nature, such as the phrase “murdered, burnt by you” in line 4.

 The poem’s first line expands on the title by repeating the word “fiend.” The narrator addresses the possibility that blacks and racist whites are equally savage and fiendish with the line “Think you I am not fiend and savage, too?”  This equalization challenges white racist belief that only blacks are fiends and savages. Although the beginning of line 1 is repeated in line 2, the narrator is not forcing a realization of equality. Instead the narrator shows how angry they are because of white racism.

  A trait which shows the aggressive tone of the first stanza is the threat of retaliation. The narrator explains that if they were given a weapon, shown by the phrase “arm me with a gun” in line 2, they would retaliate. Acts of violence committed by racist white people against black people show possible retaliation with the phrase “And shoot down ten of you for every one/Of my black brothers murdered, burnt by you.” The words “murdered” and “burnt”

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