The Slave In The Dismal Swamp

This was the Fortnightly Poetry project for June 17, 2018.

Read in English by Algy Pug; Bruce Kachuk; David Lawrence; Newgatenovelist; Foon; Greg Giordano; Graham Scott; Isaiah Barker; KHand; Larry Wilson; Michele Fry; RajVO and Tomas Peter.

The Slave In The Dismal Swamp by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 - 1882) This little poem, with it's masterful choice of heavy-laden words, and great alliteration that sounds like a drumbeat and rolls off the tongue, conveys much horror in a very few words. Longfellow wrote poetry like John Singer Sargent painted portraits, with "economy of stroke". This poem shows Longfellow's familiarity with and sympathy for the slavery issues of his day. A contemporary of Harriet Beecher Stowe (author of Uncle Tom's Cabin), both used their literary art to raise consciousness of this intolerable practice. The last stanza is reminiscent of stories told by survivors of the WW II gas chambers, where even amidst the horror, birds still sang and flew overhead, squirrels scampered about, scraggly weeds bloomed their little flowers along the fences, and light fluffy clouds scudding overhead, showing the ghastly contrast between nature's beauty and man-made hell. - Summary by Michele Fry

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