Claude McKay

A detailed Summary of Claude McKay


Festus Claudius McKay, aka Eli Edwards, was born in Jamaica on September 15, 1889. His parents were farmers and he was the youngest of eleven children. Twenty-three years of his life were spent in Jamaica and from there he would immigrate to the United States. Claude McKay was known as an internationalist because he traveled far and wide to several different countries. His travels and experiences in the range of countries he visited, played a key part in shaping McKay's ideas. These ideas would forge powerful messages that McKay expressed in a unique, artistic way.

The Harlem Renaissance was in its early stages during the time McKay wrote. An African American poet, known as Alain Locke, had developed a concept of "the New Negro" during the Harlem Renaissance. Locke had a vi


Through McKay's own personal experiences in the United States, he became very bitter. The expression of his bitterness through his art, poetry, was what true art was supposed to be. Passionate feeling put into artwork and inspiration through life's experiences, is the very essence of the African American culture. The ability to express feeling and emotion through art is art for the sake of art. McKay argues that art born out of negative energy is truly definitive of a person's state of mind. Venting this negative energy into works of art was considered by McKay to be true art.

ew that African American art should be created as art for the sake of art. His ideas were based on breaking away from the society influenced "black" art and rather developing art without any racial bounds. McKay disagreed with these very ideas and was considered an outcast from the New Negro A

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 593
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English

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