The Harlem Dancer

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1917

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Further Reading & Resources

Related Poems

“Invocation” by Claude McKay (1917)

When published in the October 1917 volume of Seven Arts, “Invocation” appeared just before “The Harlem Dancer.” "Invocation" is also a sonnet, but it is slightly more formal in tone as the speaker calls upon an “Ancestral Spirit” (Line 1) for help. The plea centers on the desire for inspiration to fall “upon my sable face” (Line 10) and to be raised up from “out of this alien place” (Line 12) in order to be “the worthy singer of my world and race” (Line 14). Concerns about art and race as well as a sense of alienation are present here like they are in “The Harlem Dancer.”

“On Broadway” by Claude McKay (1922)

First published in Harlem Shadows (1922), “On Broadway” shares similarities with “The Harlem Dancer.” The speaker is moving on Broadway, also in New York City, looking at the “hundred shouting signs” (Line 3) that cast their bright fantastic glow / [u]pon the merry crowd” (Lines 4-5). While the speaker notes its beauty, they also find it “garish” (Line 2). As in the environment of the Harlem dancer’s club, “Desire naked, linked with Passion / Goes trutting by in brazen fashion” (Lines 9-10). This isolates the speaker in a similar way to the dancer, and they lament, “My heart, my heart is lonely” (Lines 8, 16).

“Like A Strong Tree” by Claude McKay

This sonnet was included for the first time in Alain Locke’s 1925 volume, The New Negro, an anthology of poems. Some of the images regarding the tree echo the descriptions in “The Harlem Dancer.” Like the palm, the title tree “proudly thrives” (Line 3) despite “rain or time of dearth” (Line 3). It even survives “queer things of the nether world” (Line 8), which again suggests alienation. However, in this poem, the speaker compares themselves to the tree rather than comparing to someone else. They suggest they would be resilient, “sensing the subtle spell of changing forms, / Like a strong tree against a thousand storms” (Lines 13-14).

Further Literary Resources

“Claude McKay, The New Negro Movement and the Russian Revolution” by Owen Walsh (2017)

This article traces McKay’s interest in socialism from the early 1910s, as well as his visit to Russia in 1922. The article includes photographs of McKay’s congressional visit to the Kremlin. There is an overview of McKay’s origins and his involvement with the Harlem Renaissance, Max Eastman, and socialist causes. Walsh also covers the Black nationalism associated with the Harlem Renaissance and McKay’s political stance in regard to it. While he does not mention his poetry at any length, Walsh explains why economic and racial equality was important to McKay and provides historical background that can be applied to a poem like “The Harlem Dancer.”

“On Claude McKay’s Subversive, Foundational Poems of Love and Protest” by Jericho Brown (2022)

This essay, by Pulitzer Prize winning poet Jericho Brown, looks at McKay’s use of the sonnet, especially in Harlem Shadows. The essay also served as the introductory essay to the centennial edition of that volume. In this work, Brown mentions several of McKay’s poems, including “The Harlem Dancer,” and talks about their personal nature, McKay’s skilled use of form, and his dedication to inclusivity. Brown notes that “I have always thought of Harlem Shadows as a book of love poems. It’s a book about an immigrant man who misses home but means to make it as a writer in this nation and believes he needs the unity of his people to do it.”

“Puppet of skeletal escapade’: Dance Dialogues in Mina Loy and Carl Van Vechten” by Megan Girdwood (2021)

In this article from Modernist Cultures, Girdwood discusses the relationship British poet Mina Loy and American agent and critic Carl Van Vechten had with modern dance, starting in the 1910s. In its second half, the article discusses the Harlem Renaissance, and particularly the hierarchy in clubs in Harlem. The article mentions Claude McKay’s “The Harlem Dancer” and foregrounds the “complex racial and erotic dynamics of dance in the literary cultures of the period.”

Claude McKay’s Early Poems (1911-1922): A Digital Collection by Amardeep Singh (2022)

This site, housed at Leigh University, includes digital masters of all of McKay’s publications until 1922, as well as information about McKay, short contextual essays both for the past and present, and bibliographies for further resources. The site employs thematic tags which might be helpful for further study.

Listen to Poem

Listen to Teyuna Darris read “The Harlem Dancer” by Claude McKay

Teyuna Darris, an elementary educator from Missouri, reads “The Harlem Dancer” for the website Good Poetry. The reading is accompanied by a montage of photos of Black performers through the 20th century.