“Middle Passage” by Robert Hayden is a narrative poem about the trans-Atlantic Slave Trade. The poem was a coalescence of historical events and short stories written to mirror the Slave trade during the middle passage. The title “Middle Passage” emanates from the middle journey of the triangular slave trade that commenced in the fifteenth century. This journey required leaving ports in the Americas, sailing to the coast of Africa, and trading guns and other weapons to African kingdoms for their slaves. Afterward, the slaves were shipped to Hispaniola and the Caribbean, most of what is known as Latin America and South America today. During the third ‘leg’ of the trip, slaves would then be taken back to those ports scattered across western civilization, where they served their masters who hoped for a succesful new world. In Hayden’s poem, he explores the journeys of misfortune, fear, anxiety and death.
“Blacks rebellious. Crew uneasy. Our linguist says their moaning is a prayer for death, our and their own. Some try to starve themselves. Lost three this morning leaped with crazy laughter to the waiting sharks, sang as they went under”(stanza 1). Many slaves attempted to commit suicide to avoid being…show more content… They got ahold of the ship, sailed to Long Island, and hoped to find freedom. This is a well known event that Robert Hayden refers to in section 3 of his poem. He says “The Amistad, señores, would have reached the port of Príncipe in two, three days at most...Cinquez, that surly brute who calls himself a prince, directing, urging on the ghastly work.” The Amistad, also known as ‘La Amistad’, was a 19th-century two-masted schooner, owned by a Spaniard living in Cuba. Three days into their journey aboard the Amistad, Cinquez broke free of his shackles and freed other africans. They were able to redirect their routes and ended up in Long
