Reaction to "The Song of the Smoke" by W.E.B. Du Bois

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am swinging in the sky,

I am wringing worlds on awry;

I am the thought of the throbbing mills,

I am the soul of the soul-toil kills,

Wraithe of the ripple of trading rills,

Up I'm curling from the sod,

I am whirling home to God.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am wreathing broken hearts,

I am sheathing love's light darts;

Inspiration of iron times,

Wedding the toil of toiling climes,

Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes --

Lurid lowering 'mid the blue,

Torrid towering toward the true,

I am the Smoke King,

I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am darkening with song,

I am hearkening to wrong!

I will be black as blackness can --

The blacker the mantle the mightier the man!

For blackness was ancient ere whiteness began.

I am daubing God in night,

I am swabbing Hell in white:

I am the Smoke King,

I am black.

I am the Smoke King,

I am black!

I am cursing ruddy morn,

I am nursing hearts unborn:

Souls unto me are as stars in the night,

I whiten my black men -- I beckon my white!

What's the hue of a hide to a man in his might?

Hail, great, gritty, grimy hands --

Sweet Christ, pity toiling lands!

I am the Smoke King,

I am black.

The poem, “The Song of the Smoke,” by W.E.B. Du bois was written in 1907 and was written in first person perspective. This poem is about how people see him as since he is African American. He is saying how people negatively view him based on the color of his skin. For instance, he says, “Inspiration of iron times,” and, “Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes.” In the line, “Shedding the blood of bloodless crimes,” he means that African Americans are being accused of killing someone, when in fact, there was no one hurt at all, or there was no crime in the first place.
I believe the purpose of the poem was to show that people judge African Americans badly because of their skin color. He is also expressing that he is proud of being African American despite of the hatred towards them. For instance, in the lines, “I am the smoke king, I am black!” which is repeated twice in every verse shows that those words have a lot of importance. In those lines, he is saying that although his skin is light and could possibly pass as white, he wants to be black. The lines, “I am wreathing broken hearts,” express his love for other African Americans and it means that he is uniting them. He also shows his hatred toward racist white people by saying “I am daubing God in the night, I am swabbing hell in white.” The lines mean that African Americans have been through hell on earth because of slavery and being controlled, so now it is their turn to go through hell.

-Sophie