Robert Hayden

Robert Hayden was an American poet born in 1913 in Detroit. He was the first African American to be appointed as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. A Ballad of Remembrance is one of his most important collections. It won the grand prize at the First World Festival of Negro Arts in Dakar, Senegal.

Middle Passage

‘Middle Passage’ by Robert Hayden is a narrative poem written in the 1940s. It describes the happenings of the Atlantic Slave Trade, as told from the perspective of several white narrators.

The Whipping

Those Winter Sundays

‘Those Winter Sundays’ by Robert Hayden is a three-stanza work where the sections vary in length, though the theme remains from start to finish.