I am choosing to focus on the imagery of the poem by Frances Harper named “The Slave Mother”. She invokes a sense of woe in the reader in telling how a young boy is taken from his mother. Her imagery of how the mother clings to her son, terrified that he will e taken away is sad and almost brings the reader to tears. “She is a mother, pale with fear, / Her boy clings to her side,/ And in her kirtle vainly tries/ His trembling form to hide.” This is very moving to mothers because the thought of someone tearing your child away from you is terrifying. Also it is terrifying for the child because the child has no knowledge of where he/she is going to be sent. The last stanza in this poem, to me, is the most saddening. “No marvel, then, these bitter shrieks/ Disturb the listening air: / She is a mother, and her heart / Is breaking in despair.” The mother is crying out in agony for her child who is being dragged away by the slave owners. This sad story drives women, both black and white, free or enslaved to fight for these mothers and their children to maintain the family unit.
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