Poem Analysis: The Lynching

"The Lynching" is a Petrarchan sonnet both because of its form and content.
Firstly, it has fourteen lines and a petrarchen rhyme scheme abba which creates a couplet. The poem's couplets emphasize the emotion of each thought.
Secondly, it's built from three quatrains and a final couplet gg, which doesn’t fit the strict Petrarchan sonnet but integrated with the poet's message and point of view. The poem's last couplet demonstrates the message of the poem – the African Americans' suffering won't fade away with the next generation.
Thirdly, there is an intellectual question which is being raised during the sonnet and a resolution at the end. McKay raises the question, if the lynching is such a dreadful and horrible act, how can it be such a