To One Coming North

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1922

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Themes

Flight From Oppression

The poem’s message addresses the experience of migrating to northern lands away from the racism of the south, capturing an essential element all diasporas fleeing conflict. The poem does not simplify or negate the complex experience of migration, acknowledging that even if the homeland is a place of oppression and violence, for the migrant, it may continue to hold a particular allure of beauty and familiarity. Flight from the homeland may be a necessary and irreversible choice, but the choice does not mean that migrants will not long for their homes, as does the audience in “To One Coming North.”

Further, the north, which is the location of the new home for the migrant audience, is not presented as an obvious paradise. In the poem’s context, the north is both a magical snowy landscape and a “wind-worried void” (Line 6). The immigrant will have to create a new life here, from scratch, and the process may not be an easy one. Thus, the poem does not ignore the realities of diaspora and the flight from conflict and oppression.

Despite the feelings of longing and nostalgia that are possible, there are clear reasons why very few immigrants return for good to the lands they left behind. Mirroring that reality, the poem ends on an uplifting, hopeful note, as chilly winter gives way to springtime. McKay’s ideas would prove prescient: very few American Black families returned south after migrating to the north, west, and mid-west. Though the new lands were unfamiliar and tough, it appears that they offered a freedom and a safety the American south could not provide Black people. The poet also alludes to the idea that for most migrants and refugees, migration is not a movement merely for better economic opportunities, but a necessary step to save their lives and escape violence.

The Necessity of Change

In the final stanza of the poem, the speaker describes the American south – which they previously painted earlier in the poem as a warm, fragrant place of birdsongs, wide lanes, flowering trees, and vivid blue sky – as “changeless” (Line 13). The word conveys an important message of the poem in one swift stroke: the beauty of the south mutes its stasis, which suggests to the poet that Blacks will never be free of oppression while living in this region. Though the pull of the beauty of the south is strong and the migrant will never be completely free from it, beauty that is “changeless” is not true beauty. The suggestion of birdsong evokes the image of birds, ever the symbols of patterned migration; however, for the migrant living up north, the memories of southern birdsong serve as a reminder that their journey, unlike that of birds, is irreversible. They cannot return to the south because freedom involves change, growth, and evolution.

The speaker uses the climate of the south as an allegory for its old, brutal laws and its oppressive cultural norms that place Black people at a disadvantage. To the poet, change, no matter how painful or inconvenient, is a kind of necessity; it is what drives life forward and allows everyone to hope for freedom, safety and beauty. To illustrate the power of change, the speaker presents the north in a changing landscape, from a land of gentle snow to a geography overwhelmed by chill to a vibrant place of mellow sunlight and growth. However, the south is presented as eternal warmth, in vivid colors, until the images appear suffocating and still, despite their beauty. In the first stanza, the northern lands are associated with “playful” (Line 1) snow, dancing moths and flowing rivers. In the second stanza, the sunlight thaws patches of snow. The speaker uses dynamic verbs and adjectives to characterize the north and position the region as a place of growth.

The Power of Hope

The poem directly addresses a universal theme of hope. Just like the hope of a better life draws the migrants onwards, despite the hardships of the journey, it is the prospect of change and betterment that drives people to persist in all difficult endeavors. In the context of the Great Migration, the journeys north was often treacherous, with families traveling in secrecy to escape discovery from white landholders, often in crowded, bare trains. Often, impoverished families travelled with sparse supplies, risking their health and safety for the promise of a better life. When they reached their destination, they often found themselves in cramped living quarters. Given this grim scenario, it was the virtue of hope which often kept people going, or in the words of the poet, the prospect of Spring, “who has shed upon the earth her charm” (Line 14), melting the bleak midwinter of despair.

To emphasize the central value of hope, the speaker uses the adjective “miraculous” (Line 16) to describe the new spring sun of “the Northland” (Line 15). The word “Northland” itself is capitalized, inflating the value of the north as a geographic symbol of hope. Hope itself is nothing short of a miracle, as it can instantly transform the idea of bleak predestination into a sense of possibility.