Introduction and Context
George Moses Horton was born in North Carolina as a slave around 1798. As a young man, he taught himself how to read and started writing poetry while working as a slave on the small farm of William Horton, tending cows. He felt early on that farm work was not to be his life's work and ambition.
Sometime between 1815-1820, Horton began using Sundays to walk eight miles to the campus at Chapel Hill. On campus, he became popular for his ability to create customized acrostic poetry and would often sell poetry to college students for them to give to their girlfriends. Eventually, Horton was discovered and supported by white people who provided avenues for Horton to publish his work, more serious slave poetry than romantic acrostics. For most of his enslaved adulthood, from the 1830s to the end of the Civil War, George Moses rented himself out to himself at a charge of 25 (and eventually 50) cents a day so that he could write and spend his time on the campus in the intellectual atmosphere of college existence. To pay for this, he performed odd jobs and sold his poetry. |
The poem, "A Slave's Complaint," was published as part of the larger volume of work entitled The Hope of Liberty (1829). The poem is the lament of a slave who at firsts questions the hopefulness of his condition but eventually settles on eternal hope. The poem speaks of the lower demeanor of the slave and uses repetition to affect a sense of constant turmoil.
Horton did not technically become a free man until the end of the Civil War in 1865. In the turmoil of the post-war South, he moved to Philadelphia to live as a free man and died there around 1883.
Horton did not technically become a free man until the end of the Civil War in 1865. In the turmoil of the post-war South, he moved to Philadelphia to live as a free man and died there around 1883.
Document - The Slave's Complaint
Am I sadly cast aside,
On misfortune’s rugged tide? Will the world my pains deride Forever? Must I dwell in Slavery’s night, And all pleasure take its flight, Far beyond my feeble sight, Forever? Worst of all, must hope grow dim, And withhold her cheering beam? Rather let me sleep and dream Forever! Something still my heart surveys, Groping through this dreary maze; Is it Hope?--they burn and blaze Forever! |
Leave me not a wretch confined,
Altogether lame and blind-- Unto gross despair consigned, Forever! Heaven! in whom can I confide? Canst thou not for all provide? Condescend to be my guide Forever: And when this transient life shall end, Oh, may some kind, eternal friend Bid me from servitude ascend, Forever! |
Questions for Discussion and Document Based Analysis
- What is the word that is repeated in every stanza? What do you think is the author's purpose in using this word repeatedly?
- According to the poem, what is the effect of slavery on the author's life?
- In the last stanza, how does the author describe how his own slave status will end?
Sources Referenced
James Basker, ed, American Antislavery Writings: Colonial Beginnings to Emancipation, (New York: Literary Classics of the United States, Inc., 2012), 253.
Blyden Jackson, "George Moses Horton, North Carolinian," The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 (April, 1976), pp. 140-147
GEORGE MOSES HORTON: CRAFTING VIRTUAL FREEDOM THROUGH POETRY, The Apprend Foundation
Blyden Jackson, "George Moses Horton, North Carolinian," The North Carolina Historical Review, Vol. 53, No. 2 (April, 1976), pp. 140-147
GEORGE MOSES HORTON: CRAFTING VIRTUAL FREEDOM THROUGH POETRY, The Apprend Foundation
- Includes graphic organizer for teachers