The poem’s title is both intriguing and initially misleading. It is an oxymoron (derived from Greek words “oxus,” meaning sharp, and “moros,” meaning dull; therefore, “sharply dull”), a figure of speech in which two incongruous terms are placed in the same phrase creating a self-contradiction (e.g., loving hate or fiery ice). By definition, immigrants are people who are no longer in their own native land. Those who are in their own land are not immigrants, though they may have been immigrants before assuming citizenship in their adoptive country. However, it is gradually revealed in the poem that the title phrase does not refer to immigrants, but to prisoners. The poet suggests that, while most prisoners in the United States are Americans, they find themselves in a situation resembling that of immigrants. They are estranged in their own country, as if they did not belong there. (For more on similarities between prisoners and immigrants, see Themes.)

The opening statements could apply equally to both immigrants and prisoners. The speaker uses the first-person plural pronoun (“We”), signaling that he speaks for a group of people to which he belongs. They “are born with dreams in [their] hearts, / looking for better days ahead” (Lines 1-2).