Anonymous Collection

The Realism works in the anonymous collection mentioned in the title are "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Go Down, Moses," and "Keep Your Hand on the Plow". Personally, I failed to see how any of these are Realist or Naturalist works. They are songs that the black slaves made up to spite their masters. Their masters did not want their slaves singing about freedom because they were paranoid crooks. Therefore, the slaves sang songs about freedom that were thinly describing something else in a giant metaphor for freedom. It amazes me that the masters did not catch on more often than they did, as the songs listed in this blog are all very obviously about freedom. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is about a chariot that will come to take the slaves "home", though does not specify where that is. It could literally mean their home of Africa or to freedom. "Go Down, Moses" is about the bible story where Moses frees the Jewish slaves under the Egyptian pharaoh. Last, but not least, "Keep Your Hand on the Plow" is about another biblical story in which an apostle of Jesus and his companion are imprisoned, but escape due to an act of God. The songs clearly speak of freedom, which at the time, was not a very realistic concept.

The main thing that I see in these songs is Regionalism. The songs are all in the common language of the slaves, which was not very "sophisticated". The Southern dialect is apparent in these songs, which makes sense because most of the slaves in this time period were in the South, working in any number of places. "Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home," is the main line of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" (Swing). It is very simple so that it would be easy to remember and sing. "Let my people go" is also a staple of "Go Down, Moses" (Go). Simple, yet effective. Also, these songs could be said to display the aspects of Regionalism because of the area in which they originated. Many slave song originated on the plantations where they worked for long hours a day. The only thing they had to keep them occupied was their singing. These songs were created on the plantations, which were often like their own enclosed worlds. Therefore, they were very area specific.

These songs could also be considered Naturalistic in how they deal with human nature. It is against human nature to want to be held captive as a slave. Each of these songs reflects that by singing of freedom. In "Keep Your Hand on the Plow", the song says, "Got my hand on the gospel plow, wouldn't take nothin' for my journey now..." (Keep). This "journey" is the journey to freedom. These also show Naturalism because the heroes are from the lower classes. Moses was a poor slave, the Apostles were also poor for religious purposes, and the slaves themselves were poor and of low class in society. The heroes of the songs are all from the poor lower classes of society, which is a Naturalism characteristic (Campbell).

Campbell, Donna M. "Naturalism in American Literature." Washington State University - Pullman, Washington. 27 July 2010. Web. 13 Feb. 2011. http://www.wsu.edu/~campbelld/amlit/natural.htm.

"Go Down, Moses." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 346. Print.

"Keep Your Hand on the Plow." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 347. Print.

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Glencoe Literature. Ed. Jeffrey Wilhelm. American Literature ed. Colombus: McGraw-Hill, 2010. 348. Print.