A Black Woman's Struggle

Black Woman
By Georgia Douglas Johnson

Don’t knock at the door, little child,
     I cannot let you in,
You know not what a world this is
     Of cruelty and sin.
Wait in the still eternity
     Until I come to you,
The world is cruel, cruel, child,
     I cannot let you in!

Don’t knock at my heart, little one,
     I cannot bear the pain
Of turning deaf-ear to your call
     Time and time again!
You do not know the monster men
     Inhabiting the earth,
Be still, be still, my precious child,
     I must not give you birth!

http://www.poets.org/viewmedia.php/prmMID/19686

Georgia Douglas Johnson

Georgia Douglas Johnson(1880-1966) was a
prominent American female poet of the Harlem
renaissance. In this poem Johnson uses repetition
of idea of knocking and a mixture of cacophonous
and euphonious end sentences to covey her love
and fear at bring a child into a hate filled and
racist world. In using the repeated symbolism of
the knocking at a door (and her heart) it shows
the readers that the speaker is torn between her
love for her unborn child and her reluctance
to cause it harm.  Each time it “knocks’ the speaker
finds it harder deny it. “I cannot bear the pain/Of
turning deaf-ear to your call”          
The final sentence in the first paragraph of writing is  cacophonous, a contrast to the rhythmic
euphonious flow of the sentences before it.  “The world is cruel, cruel, child/ I cannot let you in!”
It  physically jerks you out of the melodious flow and gives her poem substance. It shows she is
serious about protecting her unborn baby. 
In this poem the speaker feels a profound love and pain for the child she carries inside
her womb. Her first instinct, to protect her child from the evil and pain of the world,
causes her to be pessimistic about giving birth. In the time this poem was written, racism
was very pronounced and Johnson would have been bringing her
child into a world where oppression ruled supreme. Although this poem doesn’t explicitly
talk about race it carries strong themes of the Harlem Renaissance. It explores anger at
racism and a little determination to fight oppression. In refusing to bring her child up in
this “cruel world” the speaker is rebelling against her oppressors. The speaker shows her
strength and anger at the “cruelty and sin” of the world in using explanation points at the
end of passionate sentences. I liked this poem because of its stop and go rhythm. It was
heartbreaking but you can feel the passion of the poet in each and every sentence.