"Middle Passage" was clearly a different kind of poem. A black man writing about a racial and moral dilemma that took place almost a century earlier, in a time when such racial hatred wasn't exactly extinct... this was a touchy subject. Hayden takes no prisoners, however, in his truthful and bleak description of the events that occurred on the passage in the late 19th century. He uses great irony throughout the poem, with the names of the boats and the turning roles of the prisoners when they take over the ship. He also puts a lot of religious context into the poem with his hymns and “O Lord”s, but basically insinuates that God doesn’t exist in the Middle Passage, for these acts are of human nature and horror, and cannot be guided by God.
I’m still trying to figure out where the perspective of the captives takes place in the poem. If I can recall correctly, the introduction to the poem in our anthology said the poem took on many perspectives, including the crewmen and the captives, but I can’t seem to find the captives’ voice. I would especially like to hear the voice of Cinquez, the revolt leader and African prince. Maybe it is in there somewhere, and we didn’t get a chance to find it in class, or maybe it’s missing altogether. But as he is a central character, it felt lacking that we only got an external glimpse of him.
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