If We Must Die
If we must die, let it not be like hogsHunted and penned in an inglorious spot,While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs,Making their mock at our accursèd lot.If we must die, O let us nobly die,So that our precious blood may not be shedIn vain; then even the monsters we defyShall be constrained to honor us though dead!O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!Though far outnumbered let us show us brave,And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow!What though before us lies the open grave?Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack,Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back!
Words in this poem
- penned a.
- Winged; having plumes.
- inglorious a.
- Not glorious; not bringing honor or glory; not accompanied with fame, honor, or celebrity; obscure; humble; as, an inglorious life of ease. [L. inglorious; pref. in- not + gloria glory, fame: cf. F. inglorieux. See Glory.]
- nobly adv.
- Of noble extraction; as, nobly born or descended.
- defy v. t.
- To renounce or dissolve all bonds of affiance, faith, or obligation with; to reject, refuse, or renounce. [F. défier, OF. deffier, desfier, LL. disfidare to disown faith or fidelity, to dissolve the bond of allegiance, as between the vassal and his lord; hence, to ch]
- shall v. i.
- To owe; to be under obligation for. [OE. shal, schal, imp. sholde, scholde, AS. scal, sceal, I am obliged, imp. scolde, sceolde, inf. sculan; akin to OS. skulan, pres. skal, imp. skolda, D. zullen,]
Definitions and etymologies from Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913.
About this text
If We Must Die 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, If We Must Die, in Harlem Shadows (1922), text of Project Gutenberg ebook #64989, Laurel, https://laurelpoetry.com/poem/mckay-harlem-shadows/if-we-must-die.html, id L01379.
Form and metre
If We Must Die is 14 lines in a single stanza. It rhymes ABABCDCDEFEFGG, the pattern of the English sonnet. The metre is iambic pentameter, measured from the stress the words themselves fix (confidence 87%). 88% of its stressed syllables fall where the metre puts the beat. The lines average 10.0 syllables. 21% of the lines run on without a stop at the line end.
See other English sonnets, 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 ABABCDCDEFEFGG hogsA · spotB · dogsA · lotB · dieC · shedD · defyC · deadD · foeE · braveF · blowE · graveF · packG · backG
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 |
|---|---|---|
| If we must die, let it not be like hogs | 10 | ·········· |
| Hunted and penned in an inglorious spot, | 10 | /˘····˘/˘· |
| While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Making their mock at our accursèd lot. | 10 | /˘···/˘··· |
| If we must die, O let us nobly die, | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| So that our precious blood may not be shed | 10 | ··//˘····· |
| In vain; then even the monsters we defy | 10 | ···/·/˘·˘/ |
| Shall be constrained to honor us though dead! | 10 | ··˘/·/˘··· |
| O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe! | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Though far outnumbered let us show us brave, | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| And for their thousand blows deal one death-blow! | 10 | ···/˘····· |
| What though before us lies the open grave? | 10 | ·······/˘· |
| Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack, | 10 | ·····/˘/˘· |
| Pressed to the wall, dying, but fighting back! | 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.