Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHAIN, by JOHN PIERPONT Poet's Biography First Line: Is it his daily toil that wrings Last Line: His chain. Subject(s): Abolitionists; Freedom; Slavery; Anti-slavery; Liberty; Serfs | ||||||||
Is it his daily toil, that wrings From the slave's bosom that deep sigh? Is it his niggard fare, that brings The tear into his down-cast eye? O no; by toil and humble fare, Earth's sons their health and vigor gain; It is because the slave must wear His chain. Is it the sweat, from every pore That starts, and glistens in the sun, As, the young cotton bending o'er, His naked back it shines upon? Is it the drops that, from his breast, Into the thirsty furrow fall, That scald his soul, deny him rest, And turn his cup of life to gall? No; -- for, that man with sweating brow Shall eat his bread, doth God ordain; This the slave's spirit doth not bow; It is his chain. Is it, that scorching sands and skies Upon his velvet skin have set A hue, admired in beauty's eyes, In Genoa's silks, and polished jet? No; for this color was his pride, When roaming o'er his native plain; Even here, his hue can he abide, But not his chain. Nor is it, that his back and limbs Are scored with many a gory gash, That his heart bleeds, and his brain swims, And the MAN dies beneath the lash. For Baal's priests, on Carmel's slope, Themselves with knives and lancets scored, Till the blood spirted, -- in the hope The god would hear, whom they adored; -- And Christian flagellants their backs, All naked, to the scourge have given; And martyrs to their stakes and racks Have gone, of choice, in hope of heaven; -- For here there was an inward WILL! Here spake the spirit, upward tending; And o'er Faith's cloud-girt altar, still, Hope hung her rainbow, heavenward bending. But will and hope hath not the slave, His bleeding spirit to sustain: -- No, -- he must drag on, to the grave, His chain. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JOY IN THE WOODS by CLAUDE MCKAY ELIZABETH KECKLEY: 30 YEARS A SLAVE AND 4 YEARS IN THE WHITE HOUSE by E. ETHELBERT MILLER EMANCIPATION by ELIZABETH ALEXANDER JOHN BROWN'S BODY by STEPHEN VINCENT BENET ON LAYING THE CORNER-STONE OF THE BUNKER HILL MOMUMENT by JOHN PIERPONT |
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