Comparing Robert Hayden's Poems 'Middle Passage And Those Winter Sundays'

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Robert Hayden recovered what had been lost of the African American experience in the following poems: “Middle Passage”, Homage to the Empress of the Blues”, and “Those Winter Sundays”. In his poem “Middle Passage” Hayden talks about the suffering and the desire of restoration in African Americans through the experience they endured. Hayden uses his poems as a way to communicate his experience and escape what is happening around him the best he can. “I cannot sleep, for I am sick with fear, but writing eases fear a little” (Hayden, 1962, p. 2373), he cannot get away from what is happening around him, and he cannot ignore the pain that is so familiar, but he is able to escape to his own mind. In his poem, Hayden does not only identify the pain …show more content…

2375). In Hayden’s poem “Homage to the Empress of the Blues”, Hayden shows how the pain and suffering can be expressed through art in the form of dance. This is the narrator’s way of expressing themselves and freeing oneself from the pain and suffering and providing an escape for everyone. “She came out on the stage in ostrich feathers, beaded satin, and shone that smile on us and sang” (Hayden, 1962, p. 2377), at this moment nothing matters to the narrator and the others onlookers. This is a way of escaping, for everyone involved. In “Those Winter Sundays” Hayden reflects on what has been lost of the African American experience by reflecting on Sunday mornings. He recalls his father getting up early to warm the house before he woke him. Hayden (1962) recalls “when the rooms were warm, he’d call, and slowly I would rise and dress”. This appears to be a pleasant memory, however, Hayden then goes on to say, “fearing the chronic angers of that house” (Hayden, 1962, p. 2377). This anger could come from the hard work that his father endures throughout the week with “cracked hands that ached from labor in the weekday” (Hayden, 1962, p.

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