1I hear the halting footsteps of a lass
2In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall
3Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass
4To bend and barter at desire's call.
5Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet
6Go prowling through the night from street to street!
7Through the long night until the silver break
8Of day the little gray feet know no rest;
9Through the lone night until the last snow-flake
10Has dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast,
11The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet
12Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street.
13Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way
14Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace,
15Has pushed the timid little feet of clay,
16The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!
17Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet
18In Harlem wandering from street to street.
Claude McKay published "Harlem Shadows" in 1922. The poem appeared in McKay's collection of the same name, which was one of the first influential books of poetry published during the Harlem Renaissance. Written in iambic pentameter and following a strict rhyme scheme, the poem centers around a group of young Black women who make money as sex workers in Harlem. The speaker doesn't cast any judgment on the sex workers themselves, instead implying that racism and poverty has "pushed" these young Black women into such work out of necessity.
I hear the hesitant footsteps of a young woman walking through the predominantly Black neighborhood of Harlem as the night cloaks the world in darkness. I see the shapes of women passing by on their way to strike a deal with desire itself. Oh, the young Black girls with slippers on their feet scavenge through the nighttime streets!
All throughout the night, until the first light of day, the young women have no chance to rest their small, cold feet. Throughout the lonely night—until the final snowflake falls from heaven and lands on the earth's white breast—the dark-skinned, half-clothed girls with their tired feet continue to march on worn-out shoes through the streets.
Oh, the cruel world has forced poverty, dishonor, and disgrace onto these small, fragile feet—the precious brown feet of my down-trodden race! Oh, my poor heart, these exhausted feet continue to wind aimlessly through the streets of Harlem.
“Harlem Shadows” spotlights the difficult lives of Black sex workers in 1920s Harlem. Watching these women one night, the speaker suggests that the “stern harsh world” has forced them into a harrowing occupation out of necessity. The poem seeks to elicit sympathy for a group of people that the rest of society often overlooks, and frames their work as a means of survival in the face of poverty, racism, and disempowerment.
The poem’s speaker never comes across as judgmental towards the sex workers themselves, focusing instead on the demanding nature of their work and the fact that they have few, if any, alternatives. The women must “trudg[e]” from “street to street” with “weary feet,” unable to rest despite their exhaustion. They're "thinly shod" as well, wearing clothes and shoes that do little to keep out the winter cold. Through these details, the speaker highlights the toil such women go through simply to support themselves.
Such language also evokes the history of Black oppression in the U.S. and abroad. The repeated references to walking and feet evoke the seemingly endless labor on plantations during the era of American slavery, as well as the horrific forced marches of the enslaved (which led to thousands of deaths). The speaker thus links these women's circumstances to a long history of racism and oppression.
The speaker also argues that poverty has “pushed” the women into such work, intimating that economic necessity has created a situation in which they have no real choice but to sell their bodies. The world is "stern" and "harsh," and the speaker implies that the women are doing the best they can do get by in a society that doesn't care about their well-being. Facing both intense poverty and racism that prevents their social mobility, the women do what they have to in order to get by.
The poem ends with the speaker saying, “Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet.” The phrase “heart of me” implies that the speaker feels connected to these women, as if the speaker is also carrying the “weary” burden that weighs on their "half-clad" shoulders. In this way, the poem again connects these women's struggles to the broader oppression and disempowerment of Black communities.
The speaker repeatedly calls the sex workers in the poem "girls," and also notes how small and delicate they appear. On the one hand, these details provide a stark contrast with the dangerous and very adult nature of sex work (as it's presented in the poem, at least), implying that these women have been forced to grow up far too quickly—that society has robbed them of their innocence. Yet while some of these women certainly are young, the speaker isn't necessarily referring just to age here. The speaker is also calling attention to the way that society has rendered such women utterly vulnerable and disempowered—that is, essentially like children at the mercy of a "stern harsh world."
Early on in the poem the speaker calls the women "little dark girls" and mentions their “slippered feet.” This conjures an image of actual children walking around in pajamas and slippers. The speaker goes on to say, however, that the women go “prowling through the night,” an animalistic description that suggests the women searching for prey in the darkness. This, of course, is very much at odds with the image of children in pajamas, and the contrast serves to underscore the tragedy, in the speaker's mind, of women doing this kind of dangerous work; they're on the hunt, but they don't exactly strike fear into anyone's heart and could easily be hurt themselves.
Throughout the poem, the speaker continues to talk about the sex workers as if they’re quite young and delicate. They walk on “little […] feet,” the speaker says, a description that once again presents them as small and childlike. And yet, these “little” feet also “know no rest,” indicating that—despite their fragility—they still work past the point of exhaustion.
The speaker also says that hardship has “pushed the timid little feet of clay” into sex work, comparing the women to breakable pieces of pottery. And yet, the women keep “trudging” through the night. On one level, the poem insinuates that the need to survive in this cold and unforgiving world has plunged many young women into a particularly harsh version of adulthood. On another, the speaker simply underscores the inherently fragile, vulnerable position that these women hold in society.
I hear the halting footsteps of a lass
In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall
Its veil. I see the shapes of girls who pass
To bend and barter at desire's call.
The first four lines of "Harlem Shadows" set the scene for the rest of the poem. The speaker appeals to readers' eyes and ears through imagery, detailing the sound of "halting" footsteps and the shadowy sight of dark city streets. The word "halting" hints at a feeling of uncertainty, as if the "lass" (an old-fashioned word used to describe a young woman) that the speaker mentions is apprehensive as she makes her way through the darkness.
In lines 3 and 4, the speaker further clarifies the poem's setting by saying, "I see the shapes of girls who pass / To bend and barter at desire's call." This reveals that the women surrounding the speaker are sex workers and that they're "bend[ing]" to talk to potential clients, who most likely have stopped in their cars and rolled their windows down.
Instead of focusing on the male customers, the speaker personifies "desire." This suggests that the sex workers are dealing with pure lust—their interactions with the men aren't like normal exchanges with other human beings, since the men have been overtaken by desire itself. Driven by their sexual urges, the men try to "barter" with the women, treating them like things to be bought.
In this way, the beginning of the poem presents sex work quite unfavorably, implying that the occupation has forced these women to "bend" (or submit) to men who don't actually care about them. The opening lines also establish that the poem takes place in New York City in the predominantly Black neighborhood of Harlem. This alerts readers to the racial dynamics at play in this environment.
The poem is musical and rhythmic in these opening lines as well. Take the clear, breathless alliteration of the /h/ sound in "I hear the halting footsteps of a lass / in Negro Harlem," and also note the consonant /t/, /l/, and /s/ sounds that infuse these lines:
I hear the halting footsteps of a lass
In Negro Harlem when the night lets fall
Its veil. [...]
The sibilance here reflects the hushed nighttime atmosphere, while the percussive /t/ cuts through these lines and subtly evokes click-clacking sound of footsteps against the sidewalk.
These lines also feature iambic pentameter, meaning that each line contains five metrical feet consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. The first line, for instance, scans like this:
I hear | the halt- | ing foot- | steps of | a lass
This line features a metrical substitution, since the speaker uses a trochee (stressed-unstressed) in the fourth foot: "steps of." Still, the steady da-DUM da-DUM thump of iambic pentameter defines the rhythm of the poem's opening line. This effect matches the subject, since the rhythm mimics the sound of the woman's footsteps on the sidewalk as she passes the speaker.
Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet
Go prowling through the night from street to street!
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Get LitCharts A+Through the long night until the silver break
Of day the little gray feet know no rest;
Through the lone night until the last snow-flake
Has dropped from heaven upon the earth's white breast,
The dusky, half-clad girls of tired feet
Are trudging, thinly shod, from street to street.
Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way
Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace,
Has pushed the timid little feet of clay,
The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!
Ah, heart of me, the weary, weary feet
In Harlem wandering from street to street.
Feet in the poem represent the women's resilience. The women's feet, the speaker suggests, go "trudging, thinly shod, from street to street," as the women work all night in order to survive the cruel, harsh world in which they exist.
At the same time, the women's feet also reflect their vulnerability. Although the feet carry the women along as they go "prowling through the night," the speaker describes them as "slippered," "tired," "timid," and "little." All of these descriptions cast the feet as young, weary, or fragile, as if the women were sleepy little girls in pajamas.
The speaker therefore talks about the sex workers' feet in a contradictory way, indicating that the feet themselves are simultaneously resilient and vulnerable. This juxtaposition emphasizes the women's circumstances more broadly: they are disempowered and made vulnerable by a harsh world, yet they have no choice but to persevere.
The poem begins with alliteration, as the speaker repeats the breathy /h/ sound in the first line:
I hear the halting footsteps of a lass
This gives the poem's opening line a soft, breathy tone that almost makes it sound like the speaker is covertly whispering in a dark alley.
As the poem goes, the speaker's use of alliteration grows less gentle and soothing. Take lines 4 and 5, for example, when the speaker alliterates using the heavy /b/ and /d/ sounds:
To bend and barter at desire's call.
Ah, little dark girls who in slippered feet
This blunter alliteration makes the speaker's language feel more forceful. The percussive solidity of the /b/ and /d/ sounds also calls attention to the words "bend," "barter," "desire," and "dark," inviting readers to envision these women stooping to speak to potential clients who sit in cars and seem to embody lust itself.
The speaker also uses alliteration to add intensity to passionate moments. This is the case in lines 13 and 14, when the speaker alliterates the /w/ and /d/ sounds while lamenting the world's cruelty:
Ah, stern harsh world, that in the wretched way
Of poverty, dishonor and disgrace
The repetition of the /w/ and /d/ sounds once again adds a certain rhythm to the poem, making it feel musical and melodic while also giving it a slightly forceful edge. The thudding rhythm created by the /d/ sound in the phrase "dishonor and disgrace" is particularly striking, giving the line a strong pulse that adds power to the speaker's overall tone. Alliteration, then, helps the speaker convey a sense of frustration.
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Get LitCharts A+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.
Slow, uneven, and hesitant.
"Harlem Shadows" is an 18-line poem organized into three sestets (six-line stanzas). Each of the stanzas ends with a refrain of sorts, as the speaker repeats the phrase "from street to street." The second-to-last line of each stanza also ends with the same word: "feet." These repetitions give the poem a predictable quality while simultaneously enhancing its musicality, making it sound song-like.
The appearance of the word "feet" in each stanza also spotlights one of the poem's most important images (for more on this, see the "Symbols" section of this guide). The repeated mention of the streets, on the other hand, repeatedly calls attention to the poem's dark, rather dangerous setting. In this way, the structure of the poem helps the speaker spotlight some of its most important symbols and ideas.
"Harlem Shadows" is written in iambic pentameter. This means that its lines consist of five iambs—metrical feet made up of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable. Consider, for example, line 6:
Go prow- | ling through | the night | from street | to street!
This line features the classic da-DUM da-DUM bounce created by iambic pentameter. The repetition in the phrase "from street to street" further emphasizes this rhythm, intensifying the accented syllables of the line's last two iambs. In addition to giving the poem a pleasant, musical sound, this beat also subtly recalls the sound of footsteps, making it that much easier for readers to imagine hearing the women as they walk through the dark streets.
There are, however, a number of metrical substitutions throughout the poem. Line 7, for instance, scans like this:
Through the | long night | until | the sil- | ver break
The first foot of this line is a trochee, meaning that it contains a stressed syllable followed by an unstressed syllable: "Through the." This inverts the standard iambic rhythm, emphasizing the idea that the sex workers have to make it all the way "through" the night. What's more, the second foot is a spondee, meaning that it's made up of two consecutive stressed syllables: "long night." This calls even more attention to the fact that the sex workers have to spend the entirety of the night on the cold, harsh city streets in order to survive.
Each stanza of "Harlem Shadows" follows the same rhyme scheme:
ABABCC
The poem feels musical and cohesive, its sounds relatively predictable and upbeat despite the poem's subject. This, in turn, subtly suggests that this is a well-worn tune, that the speaker is not highlighting a new problem but rather one that has gone on for a while. The speaker seems used to talking about such upsetting things—an indication that society's relentless disempowerment of the Black community is nothing the speaker hasn't experienced or witnessed before.
The speaker is implied to be a Black person living (or at least spending time) in Harlem. The speaker makes it clear throughout the poem that the women in question are Black, and then refers to "The sacred brown feet of my fallen race!" The word "my" suggests that, like the sex workers themselves, the speaker is Black, and that this is a person concerned with the well-being of other Black Americans.
Some readers will perhaps argue that the speaker is Claude McKay himself, since McKay was a Black man who spent time in Harlem as a young man. Regardless of whether McKay is the speaker, though, another thing that's clear is that this person doesn't view sex work favorably. Instead, the speaker thinks sex work is dangerous and difficult profession. The speaker doesn't criticize the women themselves, but rather laments the conditions that have forced them into such work in the first place.
The poem takes place at night in Harlem, a predominantly Black neighborhood in New York City. Although the speaker never mentions the year, it seems likely that it's set in the early 1920s, when McKay wrote the poem. This ties the poem to the Harlem Renaissance, a period in the 1920s during which Black arts and culture flourished in Harlem.
The fact that the poem takes place at night also reflects the sordid nature of sex work at the time of its publication, and invites readers to consider the racial dynamics at work here as well. The poem implies that men only come to this section of Harlem under the cover of darkness, when they can pay to sleep with women they might otherwise avoid. The poem thus functions as a furtive glimpse at a section of Harlem that has been overlooked by the rest of society.
"Harlem Shadows" was published in Claude McKay's 1922 poetry collection of the same name. The book is widely considered to be one of the first publications of the Harlem Renaissance, a Black artistic and cultural movement that began in New York City. As one of the first influential books of this movement, Harlem Shadows is often discussed alongside the works of other writers associated with the Harlem Renaissance—writers like Langston Hughes, Alain Locke, and Zora Neale Hurston, among others.
Although not all of the art that emerged from the Harlem Renaissance dealt explicitly with race or racism, these were often central themes or concerns. This was the case with much of McKay's poetry. McKay was inspired in part by the work of Black intellectuals like W. E. B. Du Bois, who famously wrote about the experience of being Black in the United States. This resonated with McKay, who actually came to the United States from Jamaica as a young man and was shaken by the racism he encountered in both Kingston and in places like South Carolina, Alabama, and even New York City.
While other Harlem Renaissance poets like Langston Hughes departed from the formal and stylistic conventions of European poetry in order to set forth a tone that they felt was more authentic to the Black experience, McKay fused the traditions of European poetry with his own perspective on the world. This stylistic choice is clear in "Harlem Shadows," which uses iambic pentameter and a strict rhyme scheme to describe a group of Black women working as sex workers in Harlem. Although most of McKay's contemporaries in the Harlem Renaissance abandoned such formal conventions, McKay embraced them, using somewhat dated poetic forms to explore more modern and culturally relevant topics.
The poem was written during the Harlem Renaissance, which began to take root as early as 1918. The Harlem Renaissance was largely seen as a flourishing of Black American arts and culture, though it also influenced many Black French artists. This came at a time when the United States was enjoying prosperity and stability. World War I had ended in 1918, and the 1920s soon came to be known as the "Roaring Twenties" because of the wealth and opulence that defined the decade.
This prosperity, however, didn't necessarily extend to Black Americans, who continued to grapple with poverty and oppression. Racist Jim Crow policies were still in effect as well, with segregation dividing the country and making it difficult, if not outright impossible, for Black people to benefit from the same resources as white people. For example, schools were still racially segregated at the time, and Black schools were largely overlooked and underfunded. This meant that the quality of education in the United States for the average Black child was worse than it was for the average white child, making it even more difficult for Black people to secure well-paying jobs as adults.
In short, systemic racism disempowered Black Americans and made it extraordinarily hard for them to attain financial stability or upward mobility, despite the prosperity that otherwise took hold of the United States during the so-called "Roaring Twenties." McKay engages with this dilemma in "Harlem Shadows" by drawing attention to the fact that the Black women at the center of the poem have no choice but to survive by selling their bodies. And this, it's clear, is because they live in a society that has cut off the majority of resources and opportunities for Black people.
Hear the Poem Out Loud — Listen to a reading of "Harlem Shadows."
More About Claude McKay — To learn more about Claude McKay, take a look at this overview of his life and work.
The Harlem Renaissance — This introduction to the Harlem Renaissance includes a summary of the movement and a collection of the poems that defined it.
McKay Reads His Work Aloud — Listen to Claude McKay read several of his other well-known poems, including "If We Must Die."
Electronic Version of Harlem Shadows — You can read the other poems in Harlem Shadows in this digitized collection, which assembles the poems in the same order as the book's original publication.