Frances Harper's Bury Me In A Free Land

Poetry is a device that can speak to one’s soul, and change the hardest of hearts. Frances Harper effectively uses poetry to soften people’s hearts toward slavery. In the poem “Bury Me in a Free Land”, Harper emotionally appeals to her reader through the usage of imagery, rhyme, and the speaker’s thoughts. The poem makes a strong impact because of its simplicity. Rhyming couplets allows the poem to flow smoothly and pulls the reader along. The rhyme in the first two lines grabs the reader’s attention and sparks one interest to continue to read along, “You may make my grave wherever you will, / In a lowly vale or a lofty hill” (Harper 1-2). The use of alliteration also pulls the reader along. The rhyming entices the reader to read on so he or she can be satisfied by the next exciting rhyme.

The imagery makes one slow down the rhythm of the poem so he or she can understand what is taking place. In lines thirteen and fourteen Harper gorily describes a whipping, “I could not rest if I heard the lash / Drinking her blood at each fearful gash.” By personifying the whip Harper illustrates how the whipping and breaking of slaves were held up and admired in the South. Throughout the first five stanzas, Harper uses the word “heard” five times followed by a description of a heart wrenching scene. For many it is not difficult to just turn a blind eye to the horrors of slavery, but by the continued use of “hear” Harper shows that if a dead man can hear the agonizing sounds of slavery than someone living should be able to as