“The Ballad of Rudolph Reed” is a narrative poem in which Brooks dramatizes Rudolph Reed’s quest for a home for his family and his tragic demise when racists attack his home and child. She relies on figurative language, imagery, allusion, and word choice to tell the story of Reed’s struggle for equality and justice.

The first stanza serves as an exposition that provides key information about the characters in this narrative poem. Brooks relies on the word “oaken” (Lines 1, 2) and “oakened” (Line 4) to describe the Reeds. Oak leaves are a warm, golden brown, while the wood of the tree is sturdy enough to weather storms and endure even when transformed into furniture. When Brooks describes the Reeds as “oaken” (Lines 1, 2), she is using an implied metaphor—an implied comparison between two unlike things—to describe both their race and their character.

Reed’s children “[o]akened as they grew” (Line 4). The subtle implication in those descriptors is that these children shared with their father an experience of race that required great moral character to bear; the children are forced to toughen up in a world of racism.