Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


FORMERLY A SLAVE' (AN IDEALIZED PORTRAIT, BY E. VEDDER) by HERMAN MELVILLE

Poet Analysis

First Line: THE SUFFERANCE OF HER RACE IS SHOWN
Last Line: SIBYLLINE, YET BENIGN.
Subject(s): AMERICAN CIVIL WAR; PAINTINGS & PAINTERS; SLAVERY; UNITED STATES - HISTORY; VEDDER, ELIHU (1836-1923); SERFS;

(In the Spring Exhibition of the National Academy, 1'65)

The sufferance of her race is shown,
And retrospect of life,
Which now too late deliverance dawns upon;
Yet is she not at strife.

Her children's children they shall know
The good withheld from her;
And so her reverie takes prophetic cheer --
In spirit she sees the stir

Far down the depth of thousand years,
And marks the revel shine;
Her dusky face is lit with sober light,
Sibylline, yet benign.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net