Poetry Outline: Chapter 1

The Whipping by Robert Hayden

Thesis:

The minimalism, detail, and syntax of Hayden’s poem portrays the saddening truth of abuse through an innocent bystander’s point of view.

I. Minimalism

            A.“The old woman across the way is whipping the boy again” (Hayden 1-2). The      straightforwardness of this first sentence paints a simple picture, but it seems odd that such an unusual  situation is described with no emotion. Perhaps the simplicity suggests that this is not an unusual situation, but in fact actually happens often.

            B. “Well, it is over now, it is over, and the boy sobs in his room” (Hayden 19-20). The boy clearly does not just sob in his room. The feelings running through him at this moment are catastrophic and the only word the author uses to express his lonely feelings is “sobs.”

II. Detail

            A. “Wildly he crashed through elephant-ears, pleads in dusty zinnias” (Hayden 5-6). “Wildly” encompasses the urgency in the boy’s movements and his probable fear of what is to come. Zinnias are brightly colored flowers, so the author uses this detail to depict the contrast of bright colors with the darkness of the situation.

            B. “She strikes and strikes the shrilly circling boy till the stick breaks” (Hayden 9-10). The word “shrilly” gives such auditory imagery that it is as if the reader can actually hear the screams. The detail that the stick breaks tells the reader how hard the boy was hit without actually having to say that she beat him terribly.

III. Syntax

            A. “Words could bring, the face that I no longer knew or loved... Well, it is over now, it is over” (Hayden 17-19). The ellipsis points represent a change in time. Since the poem is written chronologically, the ellipsis is the break where the author shifts from explaining the incident to the describing the aftermath.

            B. “And the woman leans muttering against a tree, exhausted, purged- avenged in part for lifelong hidings she has had to bear” (Hayden 21-24). The dash could represent the author’s style of writing, or it could give an explanation to a previous subject. The woman is described after the beating, and after the dash there is a possible explanation for her actions.