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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SLAVE MOTHER, by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER Poet Analysis Poet's Biography First Line: Heard you that shriek? It rose Last Line: Oh, father! Must they part? Subject(s): African Americans - Women; Americans; Slavery; United States; Serfs; America | |||
Heard you that shriek? It rose So wildly on the air, It seem'd as if a burden'd heart Was breaking in despair. Saw you those hands so sadly clasped -- The bowed and feeble head -- The shuddering of that fragile form -- That look of grief and dread? Saw you the sad, imploring eye? Its every glance was pain, As if a storm of agony Were sweeping through the brain. She is a mother pale with fear, Her boy clings to her side, And in her kyrtle vainly tries His trembling form to hide. He is not hers, although she bore For him a mother's pains; He is not hers, although her blood Is coursing through his veins! He is not hers, for cruel hands May rudely tear apart The only wreath of household love That binds her breaking heart. His love has been a joyous light That o'er her pathway smiled, A fountain gushing ever new, Amid life's desert wild. His lightest word has been a tone Of music round her heart, Their lives a streamlet blent in one -- Oh, Father! must they part? | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...JULY FOURTH BY THE OCEAN by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS SHINE, PERISHING REPUBLIC by ROBINSON JEFFERS WATCH THE LIGHTS FADE by ROBINSON JEFFERS AFTER TENNYSON by AMBROSE BIERCE MEETING YOU AT THE PIERS by KENNETH KOCH INVOCATION TO THE SOCIAL MUSE by ARCHIBALD MACLEISH A DOUBLE STANDARD by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER AN APPEAL TO MY COUNTRYWOMEN by FRANCES ELLEN WATKINS HARPER |
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