The Slaves's Dream

The Slave Dream is a poem written by Henry Wagsworth Longfellow. In this poem, I believe that he is talking about how it feels to be free as in when a slave dies. He begins the poem with these words "Beside the ungathered rice he lay,His sickle in his hand; His breast was bare, his matted hair Was buried in the sand. Again, in the mist and shadow of sleep, He saw his Native Land. These few sentences is what the author uses to give away the purpose of this poem. He also uses a lot of imagery, and syntax or diction to convey his purpose in this poem.

To begin, he states "His breast was bare, his matted hair was buried in the sand". In this sentence he uses diction. He uses these words to describe how it feels to be free, or his reactions to being free. Also, if you look at the sentence after that he states "Again in the mist and shadow of sleep, He saw his native land." In this quote he also uses diction. For example, the word native land means the place where you originated from. He didn't just say in the midst and shadow of sleep I saw a country. Instead, he uses Native Land. Another example of diction is when he states "Wide through the landscape of his dreamsn The lordly Niger flowed; Beneath the palm-trees on the plain Once more a king he strode; And heard the tinkling caravans,Descend the mountain-road." In this quote, the author also gives you good imagery. He states "The lordly Niger flowed. I mean i can imagine that in my heard, and the feeling i wuld be feeling at that time would be happiness. The author is trying to convey this happy feeling through the whole poem. Reason being because of his freedon from slavery through death.

Also the author uses figurative language. He states "Smiting his stallion's flank. Before him, like a blood-red flag," and he also states "And it passed, like a glorious roll of drums,Through the triumph of his dream. In these quotes, he uses great figurative language mixed with imagery. He states "Like a glorious roll of drums". this of course is a simile he is using figurative language to compare a riverhorse to the glorious roll of drums. Also he states" Before him, like a blood- red flag".

To conclude, this author uses a lot of words t o describe his feelings. He uses also uses imagery and figurative language to convet the fact that freedom after death is a good thing for slaves.