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Poem
July 10, 1845
The Voice Of Freedom
Montpelier, Brandon, Washington County, Rutland County, Vermont
What is this article about?
A poem by John Pierpont in which a slave laments the burdens of enslavement and yearns for death as a release from toil and oppression, finding peace in the grave.
Clipping
OCR Quality
98%
Excellent
Full Text
I would not live always,
BY JOHN PIERPONT.
I would not live always; I ask not to stay,
Where I must bear the burden and heat of the day:
Where my body is cut with the lash or the cord,
And a hovel and hunger are all my reward.
I would not live always, where life is a load
To the flesh and the spirit:-since there's an abode
For the soul disenthralled, let me breathe my last
breath,
And repose in thine arms, my deliverer, Death!
I would not live always to toil as a slave:
Oh no, let me rest, though I rest in my grave;
For there, from their troubling, the wicked shall
cease,
And, free from his master, the slave be at peace.
BY JOHN PIERPONT.
I would not live always; I ask not to stay,
Where I must bear the burden and heat of the day:
Where my body is cut with the lash or the cord,
And a hovel and hunger are all my reward.
I would not live always, where life is a load
To the flesh and the spirit:-since there's an abode
For the soul disenthralled, let me breathe my last
breath,
And repose in thine arms, my deliverer, Death!
I would not live always to toil as a slave:
Oh no, let me rest, though I rest in my grave;
For there, from their troubling, the wicked shall
cease,
And, free from his master, the slave be at peace.
What sub-type of article is it?
Elegy
What themes does it cover?
Slavery Abolition
Death Mourning
Moral Virtue
What keywords are associated?
Slavery
Abolition
Death
Slave Lament
John Pierpont
Oppression
What entities or persons were involved?
By John Pierpont.
Poem Details
Title
I Would Not Live Always
Author
By John Pierpont.
Subject
Lament Of A Slave
Form / Style
Rhymed Quatrains
Key Lines
And Repose In Thine Arms, My Deliverer, Death!
For There, From Their Troubling, The Wicked Shall Cease,
And, Free From His Master, The Slave Be At Peace.