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A poem by a slave who expresses his longing for freedom and his hope for liberty. He compares slavery to a chain, a grave, and a storm, and liberty to a sound, a sun, and a dove.
Unto thy boughs I flee--. And in thy shades the storm shall calm, With songs of Liberty! This poem is in the public domain. George Moses Horton, born around 1798, was the first Black author in the South to publish a book, as well as the only American to publish a book while being enslaved.
Bid Slavery hide her haggard face, And barbarism fly: I scorn to see the sad disgrace In which enslaved I lie. Dear Liberty! upon thy breast, I languish to respire; And like the Swan unto her nest, I'd to thy smiles retire. Oh, blest asylum--heavenly balm! Unto thy boughs I flee-- And in thy shades the storm shall calm, With songs of Liberty!
“On Liberty and Slavery” is a poem written by George Moses Horton, an African American poet born into slavery, in 1829.
Horton was a slave who wrote poetry expressing his longing for freedom. Read his poem On Liberty and Slavery, which contrasts the joy of liberty with the pain of slavery and invokes the image of a dove.
May 13, 2011 · A poem expressing the longing for freedom and the hope for liberty by a slave poet from North Carolina. The poem uses iambic tetrameter and has 10 stanzas, each with four lines.
A poem by a slave who longs for freedom and liberty, published in 1829 as the first book by an African American in the South. Read the full text, learn about the poet's life and context, and explore more poems by Horton.
