The Slave in the Dismal Swamp
An old, lame enslaved man hides in the tangled grass of the Dismal Swamp, seeing a midnight campfire and hearing a horse and a distant bloodhound. Scarred and branded, he suffers while squirrels and birds move freely around him; the speaker describes his pain as a burden imposed from birth.
By Henry Wadsworth Longfellow · Genre: Abolitionist Literature, Narrative Poetry · 297 words
First lines
In dark fens of the Dismal Swamp / The hunted Negro lay; / He saw the fire of the midnight camp, / And heard at times a horse's tramp / And a bloodhound's distant bay.
Where will-o'-the-wisps and glow-worms shine, / In bulrush and in brake; / Where waving mosses shroud the pine, / And the cedar grows, and the poisonous vine / Is spotted like the snake;
Where hardly a human foot could pass, / Or a human heart would dare, / On the quaking turf of the green morass / He crouched in the rank and tangled grass, / Like a wild beast in his lair.
What this Textopian page supports
The Slave in the Dismal Swamp is listed on Textopian as a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, dated Date unknown.
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- Work type: Poem
- Author: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
- Date: Date unknown
- Language: English
- Genres: Abolitionist Literature, Narrative Poetry
- Length: 297 words
- Structure: 1 section, 6 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Standard (8th-9th Grade)
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- Work identity for The Slave in the Dismal Swamp by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
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- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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Genres
- Abolitionist Literature — The hunted man's scars, brand, and mangled body expose slavery's cruelty, while the freedom of nearby animals sharpens the contrast with his suffering.
- Narrative Poetry — Six rhymed stanzas depict a hunted enslaved man hiding in a swamp, hearing pursuit, and enduring injuries.
Tags
slavery · pursuit · swamps · freedom · physical suffering