Imagery in "The Slave Mother"

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In Frances E. W. Harper’s poem “The Slave Mother,” the first thing I noticed was the strength of the imagery Harper chose and the emotional effects these images have on the reader. Sentimentalism was a popular aspect of literature during this time period and Harper uses the strength and appeal of emotion to gain sympathy from readers and to change readers’ ideas of slavery through drawing similarities between them and the slave mother. In the second and third quatrains of her poem, Harper illustrates to the reader the injustice and agonies of slavery through images of subservience and turmoil. In lines 5 and 6, the slave mother is physically described as being in a submissive position, with “hands so sadly clasped” and her head “bowed” and “feeble” (1231). Harper also depicts the slave mother’s pain as a “storm of agony” (line 12, 1231), which intensifies the slave mother’s sadness and makes her emotion relatable to readers. Harper also depicts the separation of mother and child thoroughly in her poem and appeals to sentimentality in order to gain sympathy from readers. In quatrain 9, Harper states: “They tear him from her circling arms,/ Her last and fond embrace./ Oh! never more may her sad eyes/ Gaze on his mournful face” (1232). Images of tearing and circling arms imply violence towards children and their vulnerability after being taken from the protective arms of their mothers. This imagery appeals to the values associated with motherhood and draws out women readers’ protective inclinations towards children.

         The imagery found in quatrains 7 and 8 is particularly vivid and most successfully illustrates the mother/child relationship and the intensity of emotion that derives from it. Harper describes the child’s love as “a joyous light” and as a “fountain gushing ever new,/ Amid life’s desert wild” (lines 25 and 27, 1231). Describing the boy’s love as an ever-following fountain in the desert evokes emotions of desperation, necessity, and those of greatest joy. This is an incredibly powerful image and through the understanding of emotion, white women readers can imagine themselves in the position of the slave mother and come to feel a sense of injustice and sorrow for the mother that must endure separation from her child.

While all of Harper’s imagery is intricate and well employed, the imagery found in the last couplet of the poem most captured my attention and speaks of the strength of sentimentality utilized by Harper: “She is a mother, and her heart/ Is breaking in despair” (1232). Although this image may seem generic, it is, arguably, the most important image of the poem. Even though we, the reader, already know that the woman described is a mother, Harper illiterates this point again and uses a universal image to appeal to the idea of equality and that no matter the race, age, social standing, etc. of women, they all share the fundamental similarity of motherhood. Harper uses this last powerful couplet to make women readers realize this unity and sense of universalism and to, consequentially, persuade them to support abolition and freedom for all.