Harlem Shadows
I hear the halting footsteps of a lassIn Negro Harlem when the night lets fallIts veil. I see the shapes of girls who passTo bend and barter at desire’s call.Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feetGo prowling through the night from street to street!
Through the long night until the silver breakOf day the little gray feet know no rest;Through the lone night until the last snow-flakeHas dropped from heaven upon the earth’s white breast,The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feetAre trudging, thinly shod, from street to street.
Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched wayOf poverty, dishonor and disgrace,Has pushed the timid little feet of clay,The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feetIn Harlem wandering from street to street.
Words in this poem
- lass n.
- A youth woman; a girl; a sweetheart. [OE. lasse; prob. of Celtic origin; cf. W. llodes girl, fem. of llawd lad. (Lad a youth.]
- slippered a.
- Wearing slippers.
- prowling a.
- Accustomed to prowl, or engaged in roving stealthily, as for prey.
- lone n.
- A lane. See Loanin.
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
Harlem Shadows is in the public domain. This text is taken from Harlem shadows, Project Gutenberg ebook #64989; the transcription's header, footer and licence were removed and nothing else was changed. You may copy, print and reuse it freely.
Cite as: Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows, (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/harlem-shadows.html, id L01351.
Form and metre
Harlem Shadows is 18 lines in 3 stanzas of 6 lines each. Every stanza rhymes ABABCC. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 92%). 98% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 50% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other poems in iambic pentameter.
Measured by Laurel's pipeline, not copied from a handbook: how stress and metre are counted, how rhyme is lettered, how a drifted rhyme is found. Where the dictionary cannot confirm a rhyme the letter is withheld, not guessed.
Rhyme words, stanza by stanza
The word that ends each line, lettered by the rhyme it makes; a dash is a line whose rhyme the dictionary could not confirm.
- 1 ABABCC lassA · fallB · passA · callB · feetC · streetC
- 2 ABABCC breakA · restB · flakeA · breastB · feetC · streetC
- 3 ABABCC wayA · disgraceB · clayA · raceB · feetC · streetC
Scansion, line by line
Each line with its syllable count and the stresses the words themselves fix: / stressed, ˘ unstressed, · a syllable the word leaves free and the metre decides. Read against iambic pentameter. How this is done.
| Line | Syl. | Stress |
|---|---|---|
| I hear the halting footsteps of a lass | 10 | ···/˘/···· |
| In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass | 10 | ·········· |
| To bend and barter at desire’s call. | 10 | ···/˘·˘/˘· |
| Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Go prowling through the night from street to street! | 10 | ·/˘······· |
| Through the long night until the silver break | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of day the little gray feet know no rest; | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| Through the lone night until the last snow-flake | 10 | ·········· |
| Has dropped from heaven upon the earth’s white breast, | 10 | ···/······ |
| The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street. | 10 | ·/˘/˘····· |
| Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace, | 10 | ·/˘˘˘/˘·˘/ |
| Has pushed the timid little feet of clay, | 10 | ···/˘/˘··· |
| The sacred brown feet of my fallen race! | 10 | ·/˘····/˘· |
| Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| In Harlem wandering from street to street. | 10 | ·/˘/˘˘···· |
The reader shows the same poem with its rhymes coloured and a stress row above each line, the notes beside their stanzas, and any word's definition on a tap; the analysis page takes the whole book apart. How every part of this site was made.