Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

In Kevin Young's poem "Reward," the voice does not belong to the speaker one might expect to find in a poem; instead, it belongs to a subscriber issuing a runaway slave notice. The poem is a stark and distressing reconstruction of a 19th-century advertisement seeking the return of escaped slaves. The voice is that of Elizabeth Young, an owner seeking her "lost property." Through this lens, the poem becomes a vehicle for critiquing and confronting America's history of slavery and the commodification of human beings.

The poem begins with the urgency and directness typical of such runaway notices: "RUN AWAY from this sub- / scriber for the second time / are TWO NEGROES, viz. SMART, / an outlandish dark fellow." The tone is clinical, detached, reducing the human beings in question to mere items of property. These descriptors, "outlandish," "dark fellow," and later, "a likely young wench of a yellow / cast," are all meant to identify, to mark, to categorize. The "country marks on his temples" and "the remarkable brand of my name on his left breast" indicate both dehumanization and ownership.

However, there is a subtle subversion at play. The text hints at resistance and dignity when it notes that both slaves "speak tolerable plain English and may insist on being called Cuffee and Khasa respectively." These names are not just labels but an assertion of individuality and cultural heritage. In a context where every piece of their identity was designed to be stripped away, maintaining a name is a significant act of defiance.

The poem culminates in detailing the "reward" offered for the capture of these runaways-a "genteel reward besides what / the law allows." This notion of a 'genteel reward' presents a brutal irony; there's nothing 'genteel' about the capture and punishment of escaped slaves. The cold legalism here is a facade that barely hides the violence beneath.

In its final lines, the poem adds another layer of irony. Elizabeth Young states that if any of the runaways "return of their own / accord, they may still be for- / given by / ELIZABETH YOUNG." The audacity of the statement lies in its inversion of moral authority: the enslaved are not the ones needing forgiveness.

Kevin Young's "Reward" confronts its readers with the harsh realities of America's past while highlighting the persistent inhumanities that occurred under the guise of law and social norms. By taking on the voice of an oppressor, Young forces us to grapple with the dehumanizing language and logic of slavery. The poem becomes a disturbing artifact, a mirror reflecting the distorted moral values of a society that treated human beings as property. It compels us to look, to read, and most importantly, to remember.

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