Runagate Sparknotes

The poem “Runagate Runagate,” written by Robert Hayden, consists of two different slave narratives, both portraying experiences of runway slaves. Hayden divides the poem into two different stories through the use of roman numerals. Moreover, both stories are different in terms of style and plot complication. The first part of the poem begins with a roman numeral, “I” (line 1). Off from the stanzas and line breaks of the poem, Hayden is depicting slaves trying to run away to unreachable North. After the first stanza, there are three “Runagate,” (line 8) which represents slave moving one area to another. By dividing runaway slaves from “mythic North,” (line 13) with a different stanza consisting of two lines, we can assume that the slaves never