Analysis Of Sweat Of We Must Dress The Soil By Frederick Douglass

1. The voice of whom is depicted in the poem is that of a Negro slave from Africa, we can see this from line 2, stanza 1 which reads “Afric’s coast I left forlorn” the significance of this choice of narrator is that it allows for a first-hand account of the emotion and experiences of a slave, this engages the reader on a more personal level and encourages them to think from different perspectives about slavery and adopt a more sympathetic view of the slave, which in turn would lay the seeds of uncertainty within the morals and beliefs of individuals.

2. The personification which is present in stanza 3 line 20 which reads “Sweat of ours must dress the soil.” This can be used in the speakers argument against slavery as it creates an image of the
struggles and hardships that are faced by slaves working in the fields. The image of nature doing the same job as the slave in a manner that is effortless and beautiful while the slave would do the same job by working in a field but in a way that is laborious and cruel. The metaphor used in stanza 3 lines 24 which read “For the sweets your cane affords.” The significance of this metaphor is to display the beating of a slave to be a rewarding and joyous occasion for the slave owners, which shows a true and vivid image of the brutality that the slaves had to endure. This would evoke a lot of sympathy from readers.

3.
The writer appeals to the sense of morality and sympathy in line 1 stanza 1 “Forc’d from home and all its pleasures, Afric’s coast i left forlorn.” This shows that the slaves had homes and lived like many other Europeans not as luxuriously but as equals on the basic necessities such as the necessity of having a home and all the pleasures that accompany it, and changed the thinking that slaves were mindless beasts living in caves. In Lines 15 and 16 the writer says “Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in black and white the same.” This shows the readers that the slaves which were black may have had different skin colours but still felt the same emotions and feelings of the white slave owners, which showed people they were not merely beasts that did not feel emotions or affections but were in fact as human as their white masters. The speaker then appeals to the logic of religion and emotions of a religious view, in stanza 4 lines 25 til 32 “Is there, as ye sometimes tell us....Agents of his will to use.” This appeals to everyone that believes in Christianity, asking them is this what God has asked his people to do, and the writer questions the actions of their white masters to the words and beliefs of their
religion.
4. The writer states in lines 5 and 6 in stanza 1 “Men from England bought and sold me. Paid my price in paltry gold.” This states that European men would buy and sell slaves which were of African origin at an insultingly low price, which would lead to extremely cruel owners purchasing the slaves as they were worth very little so they would be treated as such, this is due to the colour of their skin, as they were of a African origin this would make the European men think they would be inferior to the European people this in itself is racist, the buying and selling of an individual based on their skin colour is just as equally racist as it is subjecting another race to inferior treatment based on skin colour or origin. The links between racism and profit and explained in stanza 1, as the writer explains that people of African origin would be sold as slaves, this is a direct correlation between racism and profit for the white Europeans. The links are furthered explored in stanza 5 when the writer states “By our suff’rings since ye brought us, To the man-degrading mart.” This shows the link between slaves being transported in terrible conditions to being sold on a market immediately after disembarking off the ship, this is another link between racism and profit as the slavers did not want to waste any time in making money as the value of a slave was in relation to their physical condition.

5. The significance to the reference of gold throughout the poem is that gold was hugely valuable at the time when slavery was at its peak, and in line 6 “Paltry gold” is a oxymoron as paltry in this context means “insultingly low” and gold being incredibly valuable, the writer is making a contradiction and using irony to show that the slaves value was incredibly low but they were actually incredibly valuable not just as being a slave but as being people, as people are not able to have a value placed on them based on any tangible or mental traits or appearances. Line 45 reinforces this statement by saying “Slaves of gold” this shows that the value of a person is more than that of gold and that people should not and must not be seen as commodity or purchasable good but rather as people and equals to those that are enslaving them.