“Art is not an escape, but a way to find order in chaos, a way to face life” (Berry, Wendell). These were the judicious words once spoken by the American poet and educator Robert Hayden. Despite growing up in an unstable home, transitioning from his family to a foster family, as well as struggling with poor vision, Hayden found an interest in black history and poetry that would later bring him great recognition and success. And he would do so by using his extensive study of black history to “illuminate the black American experience” (Contemporary Authors Online). By writing about historical figures such as Frederick Douglas, Malcolm X, and Harriet Tubman, she shed light on her beliefs and continued to make history in the world of poetry. Robert Earl Hayden was born on August 4, 1913, with his birth name of Asa Bundy Sheffey. It was not until he lived with adoptive parents William and Sue Ellen Hayden that his name was legally changed. Hayden grew up in a poor neighborhood of Detroit, Michigan known as Paradise Valley. After many years of witnessing physical and verbal fights between her adoptive parents, she suffered from depression and used poetry as an escape. In 1932, Hayden graduated from high school and attended Detroit City College, which would later become known as Wayne State University. At age 27 he published his first book of poetry, Heart-Shape in the Dust, and then attended the University of Michigan. There he was taken under the wing of the Anglo-American poet Wystan Hugh Auden, who soon became a major influence on Hayden's writing. He admired a variety of poets, Edna St. Vincent, Carl Sandburg, and Langston Hughes to name a few, and developed an interest in his... medium of paper...African-Americanism that is common in contemporary literature written by blacks ” (Mann, James). Works Cited Berry, Wendell. "Real work." The Writer's Almanac. Np, Aug. 4, 2012. Web. Dec. 5, 2013. “Robert E(arl) Hayden.” Contemporary authors online. Detroit: Gale, 2003. Literature Resource Center. Network. December 5, 2013. Mann, James. “Robert E(arl) Hayden.” American poets since World War II. Ed. Donald J. Greiner. Detroit: Gale Research, 1980. Dictionary of Literary Biography Vol. 5. Literary Resource Center. Network. December 5, 2013.Johnson, Jeannine. "An overview of “Those Winter Sundays”." Poetry for students. Detroit: Gale. Literary Resource Center. Network. December 5, 2013. Gallagher, Ann M. "Hayden's 'Those Winter Sundays'." (Robert Hayden)." The Explicator 51.4 (1993): 245+. Literary Resource Center. Network. December 5, 2013. "Robert Hayden." Poet.org. Np, nd Web. December 5. 2013.