She is a mother, and her heart
Is breaking in despair.
It has kept me hunted from the very beginning. If the shrieks piercing through the air are quite understandable because a mother undertakes a great deal of effort and pains to give birth to her baby, I lost my track when the mother “is a mother paled with fear”. Isn’t giving a birth to a human being and watching him growing up day by day one of the greatest happiness that mothers can ever ask? Yes, and no. She is a mother. She is a slave.
The poem deeply depicts the storm of agony that a slave mother is suffering when giving a birth. It is not that pain deriving from parturition, it is because she clearly understands that she does not have the ability to protect her baby. She knows that her baby, made of her flesh and bones, will be torn apart from her by these cruel people, and his life will be doomed to be a repentance of her tortuous path. Therefore, her bitter shrieks “rose” into the wild sky, it is a high-pitched piercing sound, but an expression of terror and pain. It is deadly-depressing because no one would thrust a hand to help, it is just lonely and helplessly echoing in the wild sky.
There are pairs of “sad and imploring eyes.” Every glance the mother gives to the baby is full of pain because she knows “he is not hers.” They are the mother’s imploring eyes, she begs a little bit more time to star at her baby. They wouldn’t let her. Every glance is saying hi, and goodbye. They are also the baby’s imploring eyes, he seeks his mother’s breasts and fond arms to hide, seeking mother’s caress and guidance to teach him how to survive in this world. But they wouldn’t let him.
So she “sadly clasped” her baby as a last try to protect him. He is the best gift to her sad life. ” A fountain gushing ever new, amid life’s desert wild.” The use of a metaphor yields a smart contrast which emphasizes the bond between the mother and her baby. The arrival of this newborn meant to the mother is what a fountain meant to the dead desert.
She fought, as a lonely solider. But she knew clearly what it meant to be as a slave mother. All she has left to the world is a baby that is not hers, and these bitter shrieks as the only means to tell the world her angers and agonies.
I agree that the poem expresses a mother’s agony. She is not just an ordinary mother but a slave. Due to her situation, she is unable to rebel against her owners. Although she gave birth, the baby is taken away from her. Despite the incident, I believe the mother took a few moment to find the joy of having the baby. The poet mentions that “His lightest word has been a tone” and his words are like music that “round her heart”. It’s true that the poem strongly conveys the suffering of a mother but I feel like the poet also tries to highlight her joy of having the baby within that short time. The poet states, “Her last and fond embrace” as the baby was forcefully taken away. In this instance, the text suggests that although it was her last, it will be a moment she cherishes throughout her lifetime. Despite the pain she has to go through, she will remember her baby by recalling the joyful times of having held her baby.
I was able to focus on the poem’s historical features rather than my emotions that would be generated by the agony and pain endured by the character. Though agony and other forms of torment contribute to the suffering of the slave mother, there is another context introduced by the author.
American slavery introduced and assisted some of the horrors developed around that time among people; but one in particular is highlight in this short poem. Slave-breeding. Now, I am not saying that there is evidence within this poem that showcases the involvement of this slave mother in that action, but based on the lines and commonly used words; the worst is likely. To explain this further, first, let’s start on the fourth stanzas. “Pale with fear” she senses what’s coming, maybe she is not the first on to go through this experience, she understand and is even fearful of her new burden. The fifth and sixth stanzas, separate mother from child, repeating the phrase “He is not hers” deepening the gilt of the mother, blaming her motherhood, as if this was a mistake. Then; then there is a pause, come the seventh and eightieth eighth, the earth stops; she is then taken back by his presents, with his “joyous light” and “lightest word”; for once and for this moment she feels like a mother. Good things simply do not last, by the ninth stanza baby is taken; to be sold or whatsoever, she is then “despair” and there are “shrieks”. Thus is it only natural that we read the beginning to discover the words shriek, meaning “high-pitched piercing sound” as a baby is being born and despair as if the author was referring to not only the newly mothers (same mother) despair but the ones that came before her. Though, I believe this poem serves more of a cycle. As the process is beginning all over again.