Point of View

“The Harlem Dancer” is told from the first-person point of view of an unnamed speaker. The speaker describes a dancer performing in front of an eager crowd in a Harlem nightclub. The speaker waivers between adopting the audience’s perspective and sympathizing with the dancer. The speaker recounts how the audience was “applauding” (1) and “watched” (2) her desirously. He compares her voice to a chorus of “blended flutes” at a picnic (3). Most notably, the speaker uses the metaphor of a palm tree to describe the dancer’s body. She is like a “proudly-swaying palm” (7) who has just passed “through a storm” (8). This is also the first moment in which the speaker uses the first-person pronoun. In fact, McKay does not reveal much, if any, information about the speaker’s identity. It is important to note that, although the poem takes place in Harlem, the speaker draws...