Transfer (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Sterling A. Brown
- First Published: 1975
- Type of Work: Ballad
- Genres: Poetry, Ballad
- Subjects: African Americans, Freedom, United States or Americans, Prisoners, South or Southerners, Escapes, Violence, Buses
The Poem
“Transfer,” a poem of nine balladic quatrain stanzas rhyming abcb, employs the African American folk tradition that characterizes all the poetry of Sterling A. Brown. The poem is divided into two parts: Part I re-creates the event that caused a black man to be imprisoned, and part II narrates the circumstances and consequences of his escape from prison. More significantly, part II concludes with the hero’s folk wisdom concerning the directions and goals of the African American life.
The title of the poem alludes to the last stanza, in which the...
[The entire page is 1621 words long]
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