Belly Dancer

The poem The Harlem Dancer by Clause McKay is written in Shakespearian style. Through diction, tone and the speaker, the true message of the poem is conveyed.

The diction portrays the speaker’s feelings towards the woman described.  The positive adjectives the speaker uses to describe the prostitute in question make her look graceful and almost pure, even though that defeats the connotation of the word ‘prostitute’. He describes her body as perfect, her dancing as graceful and calm, as well as proud.  The word ‘half-clothed’ gives the prostitute some kind of dignity, by avoiding saying that she doesn’t wear any clothes.

The tone shows the speaker’s jealousy and need to possess the prostitute. The first line if the poem ‘applauding youths laughed with young prostitutes’ has a condescending tone to it. The speaker mocks the fact that young people are fooling around. He also despises the ‘bold-eyed boys’ that devoured her with their ‘eager’ passionate gaze. The tone to his words is jealous and it seems as though the speaker has some connection to this belly dancer.

The speaker plays an important role in this poem because he brings so many attitudes to it. The speaker in this case is an observer of the situation who has a positive attitude and who enjoys the presence of the prostitute. He seems to disregard the others that look at her and he wants her for himself. The last sentence of the poem ‘But, looking at her falsely-smiling face I knew her self was not in that strange place’ shows that the writer sees something more in the woman than just a prostitute.

The dancer and the speaker have a connection that is hinted at through the diction and tone of the poem. The speaker reveals a lot about the situation with a concluding statement that brings a different view to the poem, almost like a melancholic touch.