Ulysses

Like Homer’s epic poems, Brooks's poem is divided into sections that describe distinct events. It has 19 lines over 9 stanzas. By not adhering to a specific poetic form, Brooks places a stronger emphasis on the purposefulness of the line breaks. The line breaks divide locations and stories, rather than merely conforming to a particular form.

This poem has no consistent form or meter. The only instance of end line rhyme is the sixth stanza, which is a rhyming couplet. By avoiding poetic techniques that could create a sing-song child-like effect, Brooks emphasizes how her child speaker experiences adult difficulties. The poem is not a fictional nursery rhyme, but a realistic monologue describing a child’s day-to-day life.

Brooks makes extensive use of allusions to Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey [See: Literary Context]. In Line 12, the narrator states that “Nobody Sees us, nobody stops our sin” (Line 12). Brooks here alludes to this famous scene of the Odyssey, where Odysseus tells the cyclops that his name is Nobody. The confusion resulting from whether or not anyone is actually escaping helps the men make it to freedom, and Brooks draws on this ambiguity in the poem.