McKay personifies America as a woman who feeds him "bread and bitterness" and who sinks her "tiger's tooth" into his throat. By using the pronouns she and her to refer to America, McKay turns the concept of a country into a person who can cause the narrator harm even while he loves her. The effect of this personification turns the relationship between the narrator and his country into a more personal relationship, full of the conflicting emotions that come along with loving a person.
The main ideas shaping US imperialism were "Manifest destiny" and the "White man's burden". Manifest destiny refers to the 19th century belief that the United States were meant to expand across North America because of the particular excellence of its (white) people and (democratic) institutions. This lead to the Trail of Tears, among other atrocities. Once the US reached the Pacific Ocean, new lands came into view (Puerto Rico, the Phillipines). Manifest destiny became entwined with the idea that "civilized" nations had a moral obligation to colonize other peoples, which Rudyard Kipling summed up in his poem "White Man's Burden". The tensions in this "benevolent imperialism" were never fully resolved; the US invasion of Irak was launched under similar pretenses (the invasion was "for the good" of those invaded). The idea that other peoples have a right to self determination regardless of their level of development has not yet become accepted by the great powers, including the US.
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<span>To recognize which line in the excerpt from Amy Lowell's "Lilacs" represented above emphasizes consonance the only thing you need is to read it aloud. It is like when you want to focus on the rhyme of some lines. So, according to this rule, I would say that the first option (A. Heart-leaves of lilac all over New England ) is an example of emphasizing consonance.</span></span>
