The Harlem Dancer

The Harlem Dancer is a short poem by Claude McKay about a scene in a bar. The title suggests that the location of this bar is in Harlem, a prevalent area during the Harlem Renaissance. Claude McKay was a writer of the Harlem Renaissance, and aspects of this era are prevalent in his poems, especially The Harlem Dancer. This poem is about a young prostitute, and McKay’s observations regarding her influence on the crowd. He uses imagery, metaphors, and diction to create a paradoxical setting in which this young prostitute performs.

The poem itself is much like a song, for it is written in iambic pentameter. It revolves around the beauty and sound of this prostitutes music, an element depicted in the style and form of the poem. Starting out in the first stanza, McKay’s use of imagery gives a visual description of the prostitutes grace and pose. By describing her “perfect, half-clothed body sway”, McKay gives a very different impression than if he were to have described her “hot, naked body shake”. The image he portrays with his choice of diction is one of elegance, an image not normally associated with a dancing prostitute in a bar.  He then compares her voice to “the sound of blended flutes blown by black players upon a picnic day”. With this metaphor, McKay depicts the soulfulness of her voice. He gives her voice meaning. There is a warm and comforting feel associated with the image of a picnic day, thereby giving the prostitute a very warm nature.

Likewise in the second stanza, McKay again describes her dancing “gracefully and calm”. He uses diction such as “form” to refer to her body, which is a much more artistic word in comparison to “body”. He describes her movements and overall figure with very delicate and feminine diction, creating an image that would normally contrast that of a bar dancer. The use of the metaphor following these descriptions, comparing her to a “proudly swaying palm”, also add to the gentle persona McKay is giving this dancer.

In the third stanza McKay presents a slightly sensual image, when he describes her “shiny curls” that “profusely fell”. The image of curls gives the dancer a sensual and feminine aura, rather than a trashy one. The following imagery truly shows the distinction between the dancer and her audience.

“The wine-flushed, bold-eyed boys, and even the girls,

Devoured her with their eager, passionate gaze”

These two lines I feel, depict the raw essence of this poem. It shows how the audience objectifies this ‘soulful’ and ‘elegant’ prostitute. Words such as “devoured” show how the audience sees her as a piece of meat, devouring her in unison with their sexual appetite. The description of “wine-flushed boys” give the crowd a rowdy persona, making the people seem inferior in comparison to the elegant and poised dancer.

The last two lines are in essence the most important of this poem. They tie together all the contrasting imagery of the poem, and express it in two lines. The rhyme scheme for these two lines is different from the rest of the poem, also adding to its separation and importance.  It depicts how McKay sees this dancer differently than the rest of the crowd, for he notices her “falsely-smiling face”, knowing that she “her self was not in that strange place”.