The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock

“The Chicago Defender Sends a Man to Little Rock” is a free verse poem with 60 lines. Line lengths vary from three syllables to 16 syllables, which means the meter also varies. Stanza lengths vary from one line to 10 lines. This causes the right-hand side of the poem to be very ragged, with expanding and contracting amounts of white space. This gives the poem a very different look than the columns of justified text in a newspaper.

Brooks uses rhyme inside of and between stanzas. Because the stanzas vary in length, the rhyme scheme also varies. For instance, Stanzas 1 and 2 are connected with a rhyme. Lines 1-7 follow this rhyme scheme: AAABBBB, where the second rhyme sound (B) connects the two stanzas. Then, all of the lines in Stanza 3 rhyme (CCC), and all of the lines in Stanza 4 rhyme (DDD). Stanza 5 introduces alternating rhymes (EFFE). In Stanzas 6 and 7, the rhyme scheme becomes less consistent: GGGHIJII and KLLMMNOPQO, respectively. The end of the poem reintroduces a more consistent rhyme scheme. The final 12 lines—starting with Line 49 and ending with Line 60—are couplets, or pairs of rhymes (AABBCCDDEE).