The Slave's Dream Response

Slavery has always been a topic that has been hard to get my head around. It has never made sense to me how people thought it was morally right to own other human beings as property. Slavery is something so harsh that it is impossible for me to even begin to imagine. However, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writes his poem, "The Slave's Dream", in such a way that I can feel and see and even understand that kind of pain. Accomplishing the task of making other people feel pain through writing is a very difficult task, however, Longfellow is able to achieve this with no problem.

"The Slave's Dream" is a poem about the last few moments in the life of a particular slave. This slave is lying down on the ground "beside the ungathered rice" (line 1, Longfellow). This idea of lying beside "ungathered rice" gives an image of a slave who has fallen and dropped what he has gathered, and so it becomes ungathered. Using this word "ungathered" is a very strong word choice. The rice, if it is ungathered, is free and uncontained, as the slave would like to be. As he lays there he thinks back to his native country and the days where he was a free man. He longs to be back there with his family. His life was obviously a good one, as he describes himself as being a king, and he refers to his wife as being a queen (lines 10 and 13). Does he literally mean he was a king? No, what he means is that he was treated and lived in such a way that it was equivalent to that of a king. We also learn that he has children that are referred to as his queen's children. There are many reason's he could refer to his children as his queen's. One way it could be taken is that perhaps his children are still with their mother, but since he is not with them anymore they belong to her now. Or perhaps he just simply views them as her children because she bore and raised them and he just has the pleasure of being their father. Whatever the reason, we know he has a family that he very much cares about, and at one time he was with that family. Here is where as a reader, you start to feel sorry for this man as you imagine having a blissful life with your family in a nation far away, and then feel the pain of being separated from that to become white man's property. Although this part is saddening to the reader, it is the end of the poem that really gets to the reader. At the end of the poem the flash back ends and comes back to the slave in his current state. He is being beaten by his slave master but he is so far gone and so close to death that even the harshness of the whip can no longer be felt by him. In the last few lines of the poem the imagery is so clear it is almost breath taking. Longfellow says, "That he started in his sleep and smiled At their tempestuous glee." (lines 41 and 42). This seems like a strange thing to say. Why would the slave be smiling? Well it says he started to sleep, meaning he started letting go of his consciousness and began letting death set in, but there is still the question of why Longfellow has this slave as smiling? This man is seconds from death, yet he is smiling, even through the immense pain that must have existed at some point. Perhaps the slave knows he is about to die, and it might not be as good as returning to his home country, but he will still be free in some way. Once he die his soul will be free and eventually, he will be able to be with his family again. Longfellow goes on to say, "He did not feel the driver's whip, Nor the burning heat of day; For Death had illumined the Land of Sleep, And his lifeless body lay." (lines 43-46). These lines are very powerful; the slave is letting go and lets death wash over him as he loses his feeling. He no longer feels the whip or even the heat of the day anymore, all he knows is he is almost free. Finally the last line comes and his soul is set free as his body can no longer keep his soul confined within the contour of his body. He is free at last from the hold slavery has had on his life.

Longfellow, though not a slave himself, had a firm grasp on the life of a slave. He was able through his writing to depict what slaves dreamed of and how harsh the life of a slave was. Through his details and his moving imagery he is able to connect with the reader and help them view life outside their understanding. This poem, "The Slave's Dream", is a beautifully written yet poignant description of a slave's death that would effect any reader of any race.