The United States Welcomes You

“Declaration” by Tracy K. Smith (2018)

This is another poem from Wade in the Water, the book that also contains “The United States Welcomes You.” However, “Declaration” is an erasure poem. While Smith invents questions for the interrogator persona she takes on in “The United States Welcomes You,” she only uses phrases from the Declaration of Independence in “Declaration.” Both poems examine the history and current state of America--specifically how it treats non-white people who are citizens or otherwise.

“America” by Claude McKay (1921)

This sonnet, written by notable Black poet Claude McKay, more strictly follows the traditional form than Smith’s does. The most obvious difference is that McKay uses the traditional Shakespearean sonnet rhyme scheme (ABABCDCDEFEFGG), while Smith only uses some subtle internal rhymes. However, both poems examine what it is like to live in the United States as someone with dark skin. America feeds McKay’s speaker “the bread of bitterness” (Line 1), and he compares his first person speaker to “a rebel” in front of “a king in state” (Line 8). This can be contrasted with Smith’s use of the interrogator persona in her poem.

“Excerpt from Gay Chaps at the Bar” by Gwendolyn Brooks (1945)

Like Smith’s poem, Brooks’s sonnet rejects some of the features of the traditional sonnet form. Both poets do not use end rhyme, and both empyiy a looser metrical structure in each line than the strict iambic pentameter of Shakespearean sonnets. Additionally, both poems are persona poems, and both are interested in what Brooks calls “white speech” (Line 8). However, Brooks writes about Black soldiers in World War II, while Smith writes about current issues in the 2010s.