"The White House" is a searing indictment of anti-Black racism by the Jamaican-American poet Claude McKay, a leading figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Written at a time when Black Americans lacked many basic civil rights, the poem's speaker bitterly laments being shut out of a gleaming "white house": a metaphor for the way white America systemically denies Black people access to equal freedoms and opportunities. Rather than lash out in anger, however, the speaker must find the "superhuman power" to swallow their burning rage over such injustice—lest they run afoul of the discriminatory laws set up to maintain white supremacy. A Shakespearean sonnet, "The White House" comprises 14 lines of iambic pentameter and follows a steady rhyme scheme. It was first published in a 1922 issue of the socialist magazine The Liberator.
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The Full Text of “The White House”
1Your door is shut against my tightened face,
2And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
3But I possess the courage and the grace
4To bear my anger proudly and unbent.
5The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
6And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
7A chafing savage, down the decent street;
8Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
9Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
10Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
11And find in it the superhuman power
12To hold me to the letter of your law!
13Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
14Against the potent poison of your hate.
The Full Text of “The White House”
1Your door is shut against my tightened face,
2And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
3But I possess the courage and the grace
4To bear my anger proudly and unbent.
5The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
6And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
7A chafing savage, down the decent street;
8Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass.
9Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
10Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
11And find in it the superhuman power
12To hold me to the letter of your law!
13Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
14Against the potent poison of your hate.
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“The White House” Summary
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“The White House” Themes
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The Pain and Frustration of Racism
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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The White House”
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Lines 1-4
Your door is shut against my tightened face,
And I am sharp as steel with discontent;
But I possess the courage and the grace
To bear my anger proudly and unbent. -
Lines 5-8
The pavement slabs burn loose beneath my feet,
And passion rends my vitals as I pass,
A chafing savage, down the decent street;
Where boldly shines your shuttered door of glass. -
Lines 9-12
Oh, I must search for wisdom every hour,
Deep in my wrathful bosom sore and raw,
And find in it the superhuman power
To hold me to the letter of your law! -
Lines 13-14
Oh, I must keep my heart inviolate
Against the potent poison of your hate.
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“The White House” Symbols
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The White House
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“The White House” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language
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Alliteration
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Apostrophe
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Metaphor
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Irony
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“The White House” Vocabulary
Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.
- Discontent
- Bear
- Passion
- Rends
- Vitals
- Chafing savage
- Shuttered
- Wrathful bosom
- Sore
- Letter of your law
- Inviolate
- Potent
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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The White House”
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Form
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Meter
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Rhyme Scheme
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“The White House” Speaker
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“The White House” Setting
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Literary and Historical Context of “The White House”
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More “The White House” Resources
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External Resources
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The Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of the poem.
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Biography of Claude McKay — Read a biography of Claude McKay at the Poetry Foundation.
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"The White House" in The Liberator — See the poem as it originally appeared in The Liberator magazine and learn more about why McKay vehemently opposed changing the title.
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Introduction to the Harlem Renaissance — Read a brief guide to McKay and other writers of the Harlem Renaissance at the Academy of American Poets.
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McKay's Voice — Listen to Claude McKay read several of his other well-known poems.
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The Harlem Renaissance on Video — Watch a brief video introduction to the Harlem Renaissance and the 1920s cultural context in which McKay wrote "The White House."
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LitCharts on Other Poems by Claude McKay
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