The themes of “ If We Must Die” is honor, nobility and bravery. The speaker knows that he and his friends will die, but he wants them to die fighting nobly and
like men. An example would be when the speaker says, “ If we must die, O let us nobly die,” this is dictating that he wants to die a noble man. The speaker sees no way of winning the battle but he is still willing to fight and fight nobly shows his bravery and honor. The speakers feels that him and his comrades are the good guy because they are all honorable men who only fight fair and with honor.
The author uses imagery throughout the poem. The speaker uses multiple example of animal imagery in the poem. The first example would be when the speaker says “If we must die, let it not be like hogs” he is referring to hogs because hogs typically don't get to choose how they die. Hogs are usually fenced off and powerless much like the speaker and his allies. The speaker also makes a reference to the dogs. The dogs refer to the ferocious enemy that is trying to kill the speaker and his allies. All of the imagery references to the speaker and his allies or the their enemies. The form and sonnet of ‘If we must die” is has several things in common with shakespearean sonnet.The form that is used in the poem is iambic pentameter. It uses iambic pentameter because it is 14 lines long and it has 5 beats per line which makes the poem have alternating patterns. The first twelve lines of the poem rhymes in alternating duos. Shakespearean sonnet always ends with two rhyming lines which is called a rhyming couplet.
In conclusion, “ If We Must Die” by Claude Mckay uses multiple literary devices throughout the entire poem. There are eight literary devices and out of those eight the most important ones are the theme, form and imagery. These devices are important to the poem because they help visualize the scene with the imagery. The author also use form and the theme grasps the concept of the entire essay and to shape the poem and to get an understanding of the structure of the poem.