Author Archives: davismi

Go Down, Moses – Maggie Davis

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“Go Down, Moses” is an African American folk song from the 1800s that uses the biblical story of Moses leading the Jewish people out of slavery in Egypt. The song was known to be sung by enslaved peoples in America, as well as sung by abolitionists, as a call for freedom. The song has no accredited author because, like many other folk songs, it was thought to have been made collectively by a community. While the direct origins of said community are unknown, it was famously sung throughout the pre-Civil War South by enslaved people.

Artistic Interpretation of the Story of Moses and the Israelites

Go down, Moses
’Way down in Egypt land,
Tell ole Pharaoh,
To let my people go.

When Israel was in Egypt’s land;          
Let my people go,
Oppressed so hard they could not stand,
Let my people go.

Moses was the leader of the Jewish people who were being enslaved in Egypt and his story is told in Exodus. God instructed Moses to travel into Southern Egypt to lead the Jewish people out of enslavement. God then gave Moses the instructions to warn the Pharaoh of ten plagues that would torment the Egyptians if they did not free the Jewish slaves. The refrain of the poem references Moses’ advocation of God’s declare to, “Let my people go.”

The first stanza of the song adopts God’s voice as it instructs Moses’ journey to free his people. This section can also be allegorical to the struggles of black slaves in the south. Egypt Land represents the southern states who were the most egregious example of American slavery at the time as well as where many of the singers of the song lived. The Pharaohs represent both the families and systems in the south that kept many people enslaved. The second stanza outlines what the result of release could mean to both American slaves as well as the Israelites. The Jewish people were supposed to live in the promised land of Israel if they had not been enslaved by the Egyptians. This can both represent how the African slaves in America could have been living in their homelands if not for the Atlantic Slave Trade and European involvement in West Africa. When using an abolitionist lens, it could be surmised that Israel in this song could also represent the Northern American States which was where many escaped slaves settled. The oppression mentioned is both a representation of the continued mistreatment of Jewish people as well as black people throughout generations.

This song spoke to me personally because I found the parallels drawn between both black and Jewish communities interesting. The biblical story itself is relevant to enslaved people in America as indoctrination into Christianity was a key element of the system of slavery. Many slaves attended church and sang religious hymns to pass time or express themselves. The idea that they would sing about a book of the Bible is not surprising. However, the way in which the story of Moses became allegorical to American Slavery is.

Enslaved people in America were desperate for freedom, often inciting riots or escaping through the underground railroad. Looking to God is a reasonable response to such desire, however, “Go Down, Moses” is not a religious song at its core. It is essentially a call for the eventual fall of slavery in America. The most interesting part of the song is the Pharaoh. While the Pharaoh is seen as a strong figure, often with total control and power over Egypt. But under God’s will, he is destined to fall. This same sentiment is passed onto the American Pharoah, Slavery. Enslaved people and the abolitionists who aided the escape of many slaves knew that while slavery was strong and integral to the function of America, it could not function without the people themselves and the country was at odds with each other over the subject of enslavement. My perception of the song was that it was more than a protest to oppression, but a way to assure oneself of the eventual fall of slavery in America. Through the song, you can see how the unsuredness of slavery was growing as the underground railroad grew and abolitionists became more vocal. The song functions the same as the phrase “Let my people go”, they are both warnings.

Works Cited:

“Go Down, Moses” Poetry for Students. . Encyclopedia.Com. 15 Apr. 2024 .” Encyclopedia.Com, Encyclopedia.com, 23 Apr. 2024, www.encyclopedia.com/arts/educational-magazines/go-down-moses.

“Exodus, Chapter 5.” USCCB, bible.usccb.org/bible/exodus/5#:~:text=1Afterwards%2C%20Moses%20and%20Aaron,for%20me%20in%20the%20wilderness.%E2%80%9D. Accessed 23 Apr. 2024.

Emily’s Understated Eroticism by Maggie Davis

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I Started Early – Took My Dog – by Emily Dickinson

I started Early – Took my Dog –

And visited the Sea –

The Mermaids in the Basement

Came out to look at me –

 

And Frigates – in the Upper Floor

Extended Hempen Hands –

Presuming Me to be a Mouse –

Aground – opon the Sands –

 

But no Man moved Me – till the Tide

Went past my simple Shoe –

And past my Apron – and my Belt

And past my Boddice – too –

 

And made as He would eat me up –

As wholly as a Dew

Opon a Dandelion’s Sleeve –

And then – I started – too –

 

And He – He followed – close behind –

I felt His Silver Heel

Opon my Ancle – Then My Shoes

Would overflow with Pearl –

 

Until We met the Solid Town –

No One He seemed to know –

And bowing – with a Mighty look –

At me – The Sea withdrew –

My affinity for this 1862 poem by Emily Dickinson is rooted in the way that she is able to move the reader through her poems. She builds tension and releases it in a poem both about control and eroticism.

The first stanza feels so innocent, a walk with her dog. She’s met with mystical creatures as they mesmerize her. She creates a simple yet visual world in such few words, comforting her reader and introducing us to what may be a soft poem.

But, in true Dickinson fashion, it’s not all that it seems. As she moves the reader to the second stanza, there she is met with war boats, unveiling a new tension. The threat of attack and her eventual capture. Here is where she really builds that tension, the men of the boats bringing “hempden hands” to tie her together.

In the third stanza, she resists, sure no man could move her. But, she becomes overtaken by the water, wetting her from sole to bodice. The way she writes this stanza gives room for the reader to really question what is happening, who the man is, and what the ocean represents. To me, it is both about the way that men try to control her and her natural desires. She never married and was known for resisting public courting so to assume that she is writing this as a rejection of the social standards of single women in the 1800s America is not a wild stretch. However, my understanding of this moment is not only of control but of desire and eroticism. Purity standards of the time insisted that women did not involve themselves physically with men and we see Dickinson resist temptation in this poem. However, it lasts until the tide moves up her leg. She is swallowed by desire and while not giving herself up to it, does not deny it entirely. The eroticism comes from the way she describes the water swallowing her slowly. I think this creates a really beautiful sense of tension and is such a smart metaphor for the sensations of sex and desire.

While she doesn’t fully give in to her sexual wants in the third stanza, the fourth stanza gives us a moment of release as she says, “I started too”. This signifies her release into the arms of the water, a man or person she wants to intimate with.

After this, is my favorite moment of the poem as a whole. The fifth stanza hits the climax of both the poem and the speaker. The image of the silver boot, following so close she can feel it on her ankle is a beautiful and understated way of describing the growth to sexual climax. That silver boot is not only the ocean but a metaphor for orgasm as her shoes fill with pearls as she reaches her climax. Here, the tension is fully broken between the speaker and the reader.

The poem finishes as the sea retreats, leaving Emily in its wake.

Dickinson’s Landlocked Home in Amherst, Mass

I think the reason that I am so drawn to this specific poem is how smart it is. Everything happening within it serves a purpose and the success of the poem would be extremely limited if an element was removed. I think that the choice to insert hyphens between many of the words creates a panting-like reading experience that mimics the panting of intimacy. I love her use of warships, a common motif of the time, to represent the coming risk that desire is related to. Her use of mysticism to separate herself from her speaker and to add an element of magic to the experience. I love that she does not frame herself as an impartial victim of the water, but resilient and eventually human enough to indulge.