Robert Hayden - Frederick Douglas

After reading the Robert Hayden poems, I did find one quite interesting. The one titled Frederick Douglas was one I thought was very powerful. In this poem, Robert Hayden talks about how freedom is needed for everyone just like man needs the air. Basically, in order to survive, everyone needs air to breathe. This connects to everyone needing freedom because without freedom, you basically cannot survive. Hayden also goes into talking about how Douglas pictured a world where no one is lonely, hunted or alien. So again, he is imagining that everyone is free and no one is going after one another and being discriminated against. So I thought those two points that Hayden brought up were very powerful. Another things that he goes into saying is that Douglas should not be remembered not with what he had done, but for what he has made out of his life. So basically that is saying that even though he has accomplished a lot, that should not remember him. Moreover, he should be remembered by what he did with his life. How he was a brute slave who was treated as an animal and then overcame hardships and gained his freedom. That is how Frederick Douglas should be remembered. So I just thought this poem was very powerful and interesting to read.