Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE SLAVE; A SEA-PIECE, OFF JAMAICA, by RICHARD HENGIST (HENRY) HORNE Poet's Biography First Line: Before us in the sultry dawn arose Last Line: The slave is human in a bleeding heart. Subject(s): Jamaica, West Indies; Slavery; Serfs | ||||||||
BEFORE us in the sultry dawn arose Indigo-tinted mountains; and ere noon We near'd an isle that lay like a festoon, And shar'd the ocean's glittering repose. We saw plantations spotted with white huts; Estates midst orange groves and towering trees; Rich yellow lawns embrown'd by soft degrees; Plots of intense gold freak'd with shadynuts. A dead hot silence tranced sea, land, and sky: And now a long canoe came gliding forth, Wherein there sat an old man fierce and swarth, Tiger-faced, black-fang'd, and with jaundiced eye. Pure white, with pale blue chequer'd, and red fold Of head-cloth 'neath straw brim, this Master wore; While in the sun-glare stood with high-rais'd oar A naked Image all of burnish'd gold. Golden his bones -- high-valued in the mart, His minted muscles, and his glossy skin; Golden his life of action -- but within The slave is human in a bleeding heart. | 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 PELTERS OF PYRAMIDS by RICHARD HENGIST (HENRY) HORNE THE PLOUGH; A LANDSCAPE IN BERKSHIRE by RICHARD HENGIST (HENRY) HORNE |
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