Form and Structure in 'If We Must Die'

English

14 lines, iambic pentameter, a tight rhyme scheme and a volta

Rhyming couplets, a loose metre and a cyclical structure

Because he did not know any other forms of poetry

Because he wanted the poem to be a dignified response to oppression

Because he was writing traditionally about love

Why did Claude McKay use the sonnet form for 'If We Must Die'?

A metre which has 5 pairs of syllables following the pattern: stressed, unstressed

A metre which has 5 syllables in each line

A metre which was invented by Shakespeare

So that he doesn't get told off about using the wrong metre

To deliver a controlled but inspiring response to the violence

To sound like a heartbeat which is a pulse

What is the rhyme scheme of 'If We Must Die'?

Because he wanted to emphasise the sadness of death

Because these are the rhymes of the sonnet form

To show that he is a good poet who can rhyme

To show that his community will fight back against the threat of death

Why does McKay use the rhyme pairs 'die-defy',  'brave-grave' and 'back-pack'?

'Like men we’ll face the murderous, cowardly pack'

'O kinsmen! we must meet the common foe!'

'So that our precious blood may not be shed'

'While round us bark the mad and hungry dogs'

Which of these lines is the volta in the poem 'If We Must Die'?

Language which draws on the five senses to build pictures in your mind

The five senses: sight, sound, taste, smell and touch

A word or a phrase used to describe something as if it were something else

A word or phrase used to describe something by comparing it to something else using ‘like’ or ‘as’.

A word or phrase which draws on the five senses to build pictures

A word or phrase which sounds like the sound that it makes

Which of these is a simile to describe the treatment of the oppressed in the poem?

Which quotation includes brutal bestial imagery?

What can we call these letters: t, k, p d, g, and b?

Which of these words from the poem contains plosives?

To create harsh, violent but also inspiring sounds

Why does McKay use plosives in 'If We Must Die'?