Imagine Life without a Mother!

Today I read four very powerful poems, two by Harper and two by Greenleaf. Harper was the daughter of two freed African Americans. Her two poems that I read, “The Slave Mother” and “Ethiopia” are both sad poems about the struggles of blacks in the United States. Greenleaf’s poems, “The Hunters of Men” and “The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother to her Daughters sold into Southern Bondage”, are both sad as well; both of which are again about blacks struggle in the south. I have decided to focus on Frances Harper’s “The Slave Mother” and particularly on the imagery in the poem. This poem is the essences of what great imagery is. One quote I find particularly incredible is, “She is a mother, pale with fear, her boy clings to her side, and in her kirtle vainly tries, his trembling form to hide…” (Lines 13-16). These lines speak to me because I can literally picture a sad and distraught African American boy clinging to his mother’s side as she is trying to save him from being taken away! Harper’s imagery relating to the fact that she is his mother by blood but not really is very impactful too. As she describes how the boy, “is not hers, although her blood is coursing through his veins!” (Lines 19-20) Harper uses such colorful words to describe the agony that this woman is in I feel as though I am standing next to her and I am watching all of this occur. That feeling is not something I would like to feel every day!