“Pile on the Black Man’s Burden
That line which opens each stanza is a direct metaphorical inversion of the phrase which opens each stanza in the Kipling poem: “Take up the White Man’s burden.” By reversing directive so that taking up the burden for the white man becomes piling on the burden for the black man, the poet has succeeded in creating imagery in his own poem that utterly subverts the intended meaning of the imagery in Kipling’s by instilling in the mind of anyone reading both a shoveling effect which, considering what Kipling is shoving, it entirely appropriate.
“Remember the Maine!”
The rallying cry for support for the Spanish-American War stems from an explosion aboard a U.S. Navy ship which was blamed on enemy factions. The mysterious circumstances surrounding what led to the explosion created doubt in many right from the beginning regarding responsibility, but propaganda won out and the country briefly went to war despite never actually being in any danger within its borders. When the speaker sarcastically refers to going to war “With honor’s breath” (when actually the war only served imperialist aims related to the white man’s burden) the imagery can be interpreted as a reference both to the breath expelled in those cries of “Remember the Maine!” and to the symbolism of the explosion as being like a figurative exhalation.
Prescient Imagery
The third stanza is all about how the constantly building pile of racism which the black man’s burden in America. Imagery reference slavery, discriminatory legislation and those acts of racially-inspired violence even the worst are willing to do only under the darkness of night. The final line is the real kicker here, however, as the imagery refers not to the terrible deeds of the past but rather the unknown consequences of those deeds in the future that are going to back and bite America on its burden. In this particular instance, it is not just those who actively commit these acts who are condemned, but the entire country, when he accurately foretells the day that all its racist past:
“Though winked at by the nation,
Will some day trouble breed.”
The Ultimate Ironic Stab
In a poem that is absolutely bleeding with irony, the deepest cut is saved for last. An entire library of words which argue that that this country was founded on the principles of Christianity comes in for the rude reminder to anyone who actually believes that Judgment Day is coming and there is nothing in the Bible which actually serves to justify what they’ve done:
“Then on you or your children
Will reign God’s judgments fierce.
Your battleships and armies
May weaker ones appall,
But God Almighty’s justice
They’ll not disturb at all.”
