Robert Hayden
Robert Hayden, the twentieth century poet, wrote poems that many times used history and form that allowed him to craft narratives that had different voices. He used historic themes in many of his poems to show the shared heritage of the African Americans. He also used form to get his message across, invoking a sense of speed, ideas, or to use different voices to focus the poem through. His poems Night, Death, Mississippi, and Runagate, Runagate, both showcase his use of history and the ways he used form in his poetry. In his poem Night, Death, Mississippi Hayden writes about the lynching a black man late at night somewhere in Mississippi. This is a historic poem, written in a grisly but effective manner. It is historically accurate in telling the story of a lynching in the details. The white men coming at night, the white robes, and the details of the lynching are all historic, and true things. The lynching in the poem is unspecific, as it could be any one of hundreds that have occurred in the south since the Civil War. The poems main theme or idea, is to show how completely inhuman blacks were thought to be. In the first part of the poem, an old white man sits on the porch in the darkness, listening to the cry of the lynched bl
The poem Runagate Runagate is about the black journey north, on the run from the slave chasers while traveling on the underground railroad. The poem uses the first stanza to explain the initial running of the slave, with people chasing him close behind. It also explains the ways slaves went north "Some go weeping and some rejoicing / some in coffins and some in carriages / some in silks and some in shackles." The theme of the slave on the run, and also heroes of slaves on the run are the focus of the poem. It discusses Harriet Tubman and John Brown, giving recognition to two people who many slaves looked up too. The poem also has a wanted ad for a run away slaves describing them, and the scars they have. The poem Night, Death, Mississippi starts with the lines "A quavering cry. Screech owl? / Or one of them?" Right of the start, the poem brings a sense that something is not right. It is not till the second stanza that reader learns the narrator of this part of the poem is white. Hayden chooses to have an old white man be the narrator to show how the lynching was not considered wrong in any way to many people. The old man sees it as though he is missing out on a party, and wishes he were there. Then in part two, the poem switches voices, with the opening lines "Then we beat him, he said,/ beat them till our arms was tired / and the bi
Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 906
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)
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