PREPARE TO READ
About the Author
Robert Hayden (1913–
1980) Raised by foster
parents in Detroit, Michigan,
during a time of great
poverty and stress, Hayden’s
small size and extreme
nearsightedness made his
childhood even more
challenging. Taking refuge in
literature, he earned a
college scholarship, joined
the Federal Writers’ Project,
and published his first
volume of poetry in 1940.
Hayden later explained,
poetry is “a way of coming
to grips with reality … a way
of discovery and definition.”
A lifelong student of
African–American history
and folklore, Hayden often
incorporated both elements
in his verse. He was the first
African American appointed
Consultant in Poetry to the
Library of Congress, a
position today known as the
U.S. Poet Laureate.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend
grade-level complex texts proficiently.
11.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of
context clues, figurative language,
word relationships, reference
materials, and/or background
knowledge to determine the
connotative and denotative meaning
of words and phrases, appropriate to
grade level.
788 UNIT 5 • THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”
Runagate Runagate
Concept Vocabulary
As you read the poem, you will encounter these words:
beckoning      brethren      deliver
Use Reference Materials When you encounter unfamiliar words, you can
use reference materials to clarify their meanings. For example, if you are
reading a digital text, you can often access a dictionary simply by highlighting
the word. If you are reading other digital or print material, you can enter the
word into a search engine to access an online dictionary.
EXAMPLE
The mailed warrior helped us battle our enemies.
mail (māl) n. 1 letters and packages carried by a delivery system 2 metal
armor v. 1 to send letters or packages for delivery 2 to cover with armor
Analysis: The meaning of mailed in the sentence may be unfamiliar, but
the digital dictionary entry suggests that it means “covered with armor.”
PRACTICE As you read, use reference materials to determine the
meanings of unfamiliar words.
Comprehension Strategy
Evaluate Details to Understand Key Ideas When reading poetry or
prose, evaluate which details contribute to key ideas in the text. For example,
pay attention to details that signal a change in perspective or speaker, such
as changes in pronouns, shifts in format, and changes in diction (word
choice) or tone.
EXAMPLE
I lost my way and night crept ‘round
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A hoot a growl a whirr of sound
The woods were dark, the woods were deep
Don’t tell the secrets that we keep
In these lines, the italic font seems to be a different speaker. The difference
in pronouns (first person singular for the non-italic lines; first person
plural—“we”—for the italic lines) also indicates more than one speaker.
PRACTICE As you read the poem, evaluate the details signaling a change
in perspective or speaker to help you understand key ideas.
 POETRY

Runagate
Runagate
Robert Hayden
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 A depiction of
Harriet Tubman, hero
BACKGROUND of the Underground
By the 1830s, the movement to abolish slavery had strengthened, attracting Railroad
former slaves, free African Americans, and white Americans who opposed
slavery on religious or moral grounds. A number of Abolitionists became
involved in the Underground Railroad, a network of secret routes and safe
houses helping enslaved people escape to freedom. Though not an actual
railroad, it used the terminology of rail travel as a kind of code—those
guiding the runaways (or, to use Hayden’s term, runagates) were called
“conductors,” for example, and safe houses were called “stations.”

Runagate Runagate 789

UNLOCK WORD
MEANINGS
The pronunciation and part
of speech for each of the
vocabulary words appear in the
side notes. In your notebook,
write the meaning of each word.
Use resources or apply another
strategy to help you determine the
meanings of concept vocabulary.
beckoning (BEH kuhn ihng) adj. 5 to cross and the jack-muh-lanterns1 beckoning beckoning
10
15
20
25
790 UNIT 5 • THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”
The term “runagate,” used by Hayden in his poem, is not part of this code
but is an old word for a fugitive, or someone running from the law.
The most famous conductor on the Underground Railroad was Harriet
Tubman. After escaping from slavery, Tubman made numerous trips back
South to lead hundreds of others from slavery to freedom. Some called her
“The General,” but she is even better known as “Moses,” a reference to
the Biblical hero who led the Jews from slavery in Egypt to the Holy Land.
R uns falls rises stumbles on from darkness into darkness
and the darkness thicketed with shapes of terror
and the hunters pursuing and the hounds pursuing
and the night cold and the night long and the river
and blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere
morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going
Runagate
Runagate
Runagate
Many thousands rise and go
many thousands crossing over
O mythic North
O star-shaped yonder Bible city
Some go weeping and some rejoicing
some in coffins and some in carriages
some in silks and some in shackles
Rise and go or fare you well
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No more auction block for me
no more driver’s lash for me
If you see my Pompey, 30 yrs of age,
new breeches, plain stockings, negro shoes;
if you see my Anna, likely young mulatto
branded E on the right cheek, R on the left,
catch them if you can and notify subscriber.
Catch them if you can, but it won’t be easy.
1. jack-muh-lanterns (JAK muh LAN tuhrnz) dialect version of jack-o’-lanterns, or evil spirits
seeking to do harm; also, the shifting lights seen over a marsh at night.
 They’ll dart underground when you try to catch them,
plunge into quicksand, whirlpools, mazes,
turn into scorpions when you try to catch them.

30 And before I’ll be a slave

I’ll be buried in my grave

North star and bonanza gold2

I’m bound for the freedom, freedom-bound
and oh Susyanna don’t you cry for me

35 Runagate
Runagate

II
Rises from their anguish and their power,
Harriet Tubman,

woman of earth, whipscarred,

40 a summoning, a shining
Use resources or apply another
Mean to be free strategy to help you determine the
meanings of concept vocabulary.

And this was the way of it, brethren brethren, brethren (BREHTH ruhn) n.
way we journeyed from Can’t to Can.
Moon so bright and no place to hide,
45 the cry up and the patterollers3 riding,
hound dogs belling in bladed air.
And fear starts a-murbling, Never make it,
we’ll never make it. Hush that now,
and she’s turned upon us, leveled pistol
50 glinting in the moonlight:
Dead folks can’t jaybird-talk,4 she says;
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you keep on going now or die, she says.

2. bonanza gold (boh NAN zuh GOHLD) Also known as Japanese Barberry, a thorny shrub
with bright gold leaves that are easily detected in moonlight. This plant grows best in cold
climates found in the North.
3. patterrollers (puh TROHL uhrz) dialect version of patrollers, or those hunting runaway
slaves.
4. jaybird-talk (JAY buhrd TAWK) slang term for “jabbering,” or silly talk.

Runagate Runagate 791

 Wanted Harriet Tubman alias The General
alias Moses   Stealer of Slaves

55 In league with5 Garrison  

Alcott  Emerson
Garret  Douglass  Thoreau  John Brown

Armed and known to be Dangerous

Use resources or apply another Wanted Reward Dead or Alive
strategy to help you determine the
meanings of concept vocabulary. Tell me, Ezekiel,6 oh tell me do you see
deliver (dih LIH vuhr) v. 60 mailed Jehovah coming to deliver me?

Hoot-owl calling in the ghosted air,

five times calling to the hants7 in the air.

Shadow of a face in the scary leaves,
shadow of a voice in the talking leaves:

65 Come ride-a my train

Oh that train, ghost-story train

through swamp and savanna movering movering,
over trestles of dew, through caves of the wish,
Midnight Special8 on a saber track movering movering,
70 First stop Mercy and the last Hallelujah.

Come ride-a my train

Mean mean mean to be free.

5. in league with together with. Garrison, Alcott, Emerson, Garret, Douglass, Thoreau, and
John Brown were famous Abolitionists.
6. Ezekiel (ih ZEE kee uhl) prophet during the captivity of the Israelites in Babylon.
7. hants dialect version of haunts, or ghosts.
8. Midnight Special reference to a train that used to run between Chicago and St. Louis.
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792 UNIT 5 • THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”

 BUILD INSIGHT

Response NOTEBOOK

1. Personal Connections What part of the poem gave you the deepest Work on your own to
sense of danger? Why? answer the questions in
your notebook. Be sure
to use text evidence to
Comprehension explain and justify your
reasoning.
2. Reading Check (a) Who is the speaker at the beginning of the poem
and where is the speaker headed? (b) According to the posters, who is
“armed and dangerous”? (c) What does Harriet Tubman do when the
fugitives say they are not going to make it?

3. Strategy: Evaluate Details to Understand Key Ideas (a) Whose

perspective is the main focus of part I? How does the perspective change
in part II? Cite details to support your answer. (b) How did evaluating
details help you understand key ideas of the poem and deepen its
meaning for you?

Analysis and Discussion WORKING

AS A GROUP
4. (a) Distinguish What is unusual about the punctuation in the first Discuss your responses
stanza? (b) Analyze What effect does that have on the reader? to the Analysis and
Discussion questions
5. Make Inferences What form of written material do lines 22–29 seem to • Listen actively to each
be mimicking? Explain. other’s ideas.
• Be open to adjusting
your responses when
6. Interpret What does the speaker mean by “we journeyed from Can’t your peers present
to Can”? convincing evidence.
• Use a respectful tone.
7. (a) Analyze Which words in the poem are examples of dialect? Which • Aim for clarity: for
example, reword
words does Hayden appear to have invented? (b) Hypothesize Why do
comments the group
you think Hayden writes “movering movering” instead of “moving
finds confusing.
moving”?
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8. Get Ready for Close Reading Choose language and details from the
poem that you find especially powerful or interesting. You’ll discuss them
with your group during Close-Read activities.

EQ NOTES
How does fear drive decisions?
What have you learned about how fear drives decisions from
reading this poem? Go to your Essential Question Notes and record
your observations and thoughts about “Runagate Runagate.”
INTERACTIVITY
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.1.1: Cite evidence to explain
and justify reasoning.
K12.EE.2.1: Read and comprehend
grade-level complex texts proficiently.
K12.EE.3.1: Make inferences to
support comprehension.
11.R.1.1: Evaluate how key elements
enhance or add layers of meaning
and/or style in a literary text.

Runagate Runagate 793

ANALYZE AND INTERPRET
RUNAGATE RUNAGATE
WORD NETWORK
Note words in the text
that are related to the
threat of “the other.” Add
them to your Word
Network.
B.E.S.T.
11.R.1: Reading Prose and Poetry |
Poetry
11.R.3.1: Analyze the author’s use
of figurative language and explain
examples of allegory.
11.V.1.3: Apply knowledge of
context clues, figurative language,
word relationships, reference
materials, and/or background
knowledge to determine the
connotative and denotative meaning
of words and phrases, appropriate to
grade level.
794 UNIT 5 • THE THREAT OF ”THE OTHER”
Close Read
PRACTICE Complete the following activities. Use text evidence to
support your responses.
1. Present and Discuss To engage in a meaningful discussion with your
group, share the passages from the poem that you found especially
interesting. Discuss what you notice, the questions you have, and the
conclusions you reach. For example, you might focus on the following
passages:
• L ines 5 and 62: Discuss what the beckoning “jack-muh-lanterns” and
the “hants,” or ghosts, reveal about the feelings of the people fleeing.
• L ines 13–14, 59–60, and 70: Discuss why Hayden includes religious
terms.
• Lines 37–39: Discuss what “power” in line 37 means and what
“whipscarred” in line 39 reveals about Harriet Tubman.
2. Reflect on Your Learning What new ideas or insights did you uncover
during your discussion of the text?
LANGUAGE STUDY
Concept Vocabulary NOTEBOOK
beckoning   brethren   deliver
Why These Words? The concept vocabulary words are related.
PRACTICE
1. With your group, discuss what the words have in common. Write your ideas.
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2. Add another word from the poem that fits the category.
3. Write a paragraph or poem that uses the vocabulary words.
Word Study NOTEBOOK
Multiple Meanings When a word has more than one possible meaning,
the context, or surrounding words and phrases, can help you determine
which meaning applies. For instance, deliver can mean “hand over,” “rescue,”
“give birth to,” or “state formally.” In “Runagate Runagate,” the context of
asking if God has come to deliver the runaway slave shows that deliver in line
60 means “rescue.”
PRACTICE List at least two possible meanings for each of these words, and
then use the context to decide which meaning applies in the poem: block
(line 19), dart (line 27), grave (line 31), bound (line 33), leveled (line 49).
 ESSENTIAL QUESTION | How does fear drive decisions?

Literary / Text Elements NOTEBOOK

Elements of Poetry: Sound Devices Poets use sound devices,

techniques that leverage the innate musical qualities of words, to create
patterns that emphasize meaning. One sound device is rhythm, the pattern
of beats conveyed through a poem’s meter—the flow of stressed and
unstressed syllables. Some additional sound devices are shown in the chart.

SOUND DEVICE DEFINITION EXAMPLE KEY CONCEPT

Alliteration repetition of consonant ride the rails; In certain works, sound

devices can be seen
sounds at the start of certain signal as a type of figurative
words or syllables language because they
represent language used
Assonance repetition of vowel sounds rail station for effect beyond its literal
meaning. Also referred to
in stressed syllables that
as sound effects or musical
end with different effects, sound devices are
consonant sounds a foundational element of
poetry. Even the subtlest
Consonance repetition of final secret route sound devices add to the
consonant sounds in mood of a poem and create
stressed syllables that a sense of cohesion by
follow different vowel connecting words within and
between lines.
sounds

Onomatopoeia use of words that echo the shush, murmur, clang,

sound of what they name chug
or describe

PRACTICE Work on your own to answer the following questions.

Then, discuss your answers with your group. Use content vocabulary
you have learned, such as the words alliteration and consonance.
1. (a) Analyze Consider how Hayden uses repetition in the first two
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lines of the poem. Identify one example each of alliteration,

assonance, and consonance. (b) Interpret What activity and
emotions do the rhythm and other sound devices in lines 1–10 help
capture?

2. (a) Analyze Does line 41 contain an example of alliteration,

assonance, or consonance? Explain. (b) Interpret What key idea
does the use of this sound device help to emphasize? Explain.

3. Interpret What examples of onomatopoeia in lines 47–50 help

convey sound or emotion? Explain your choices.

4. (a) Identify three different sound devices used in lines 65–71.

(b) Interpret What action and emotion do these sound devices help
capture? Explain.

Runagate Runagate 795

STUDY LANGUAGE AND CRAFT
RUNAGATE RUNAGATE
KEY CONCEPT
Poetry in its Time Period
Robert Hayden published
this poem in 1962, at a
time when American civil
rights activists had been
met with violence and little
reform had yet occurred. As
you examine the multiple
speakers in this poem,
consider how the history
through which the poet was
living is reflected in the work
itself.
B.E.S.T.
K12.EE.4.1: Use appropriate
collaborative techniques and active
listening skills when engaging in
discussions in a variety of situations.
K12.EE.6.1: Use appropriate voice
and tone when speaking or writing.
11.R.1: Reading Prose and Poetry |
Poetry
11.R.1.1: Evaluate how key elements
enhance or add layers of meaning
and/or style in a literary text.
11.R.1.4: Analyze ways in which
poetry reflects themes and issues of
its time period.
11.C.2: Communicating Orally
796 UNIT 5 • THE THREAT OF “THE OTHER”
Author’s Craft
Elements of Poetry: Speaker In poetry, the speaker is the imaginary voice
that is speaking in a poem. The speaker may be a person, an abstraction, or an
inanimate object. A poem may have more than one speaker. It may even have
a speaker with a communal voice, speaking for a group of people.
Because there are multiple speakers in “Runagate Runagate,” the poem can
be described as a montage, a whole produced from a series of different
pieces. The poem can also be seen as a chorus, an oral performance in
which multiple voices merge. Consider the different speakers in these two
examples from the poem.
EXAMPLE 1
and the blackness ahead and when shall I reach that somewhere
morning and keep on going and never turn back and keep on going
EXAMPLE 2
Many thousands rise and go
Many thousands crossing over
Analysis: In Example 1, the breathless sequence of thoughts, the
emotional tone, and the use of “I” suggest that the speaker is a
runaway. In Example 2, the lines, taken from a song, are a voice of
hope.
PRACTICE Reread the poem on your own, and then answer the
questions. Discuss your answers with your group.
1. (a) Compare and Contrast Do you think the speaker of lines 15–17
seems more like the speaker of lines 1–7 or the speaker of lines 11–12?
Explain your answer. (b) Evaluate Which of these speakers seems more
emotional to you? Cite details from the poem to support your response.
2. (a) Make Inferences Several lines, including lines 19–20 and 30–31, come
from a nineteenth-century spiritual, a type of folk song that originated
among enslaved Africans and often carried the theme of eventual freedom.
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What does the content of these lines suggest about the situation of the
speaker saying or singing them? (b) Interpret What is significant about the
fact that a spiritual is used as part of the poem? (c) Speculate Do you
interpret the lines from the spiritual as being spoken or sung? Explain.
3. (a) Draw Conclusions Who seems to be the speaker in lines 21–29, and
what form of communication do the lines seem to be? (b) Compare and
Contrast How is the point of view in these lines like and unlike that of
the speaker or speakers in lines 53–59?
4. (a) Distinguish In lines 42–52, what words does Harriet Tubman herself
speak? How do you know? (b) Analyze Who else seems to be speaking
in lines 42–52? Cite details to support your analysis.
5. (a) List the different speakers in “Runagate Runagate.” (b) Evaluate
How do the multiple speakers affect your understanding of the poem?