Sighting the Slaveship Analysis

Essay's Score: C

Grammar mistakes

F (52%)

Synonyms

A (92%)

Redundant words

B (81%)

Readability

D (64%)

Table of Content

I chose “Sighting the Slave Ship” written by Pauline Stainer. After first reading the poem, I did a small amount of research on the speaker to get a feel of what type of writer she was. In reading some of her other work, I found that Stainer usually writes at the edge of something sacred. The language she uses is precise, numinous, and very pared. I began by using visualization while reading the poem, and went with what is presented first, sighted from the slave ship.

The direction the slave ship is sailing is towards to world, as a whole. The first line in the poem states “we came to unexpected latitudes. ” Define latitude, because not only is it used in geographic terms, it is used to describe freedom from narrow restrictions and opinions that slaves had to endure. I set up my artwork to look as though the slave ship was coming towards the world, in hopes to conquer it as a whole.

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The black gingerbread man standing on top of the world is a representation of what African Americans have accomplished since slavery-days and what restrictions have been overcome. I placed a bible on the deck of the ship to represent the “divine service” that was experienced on the ship. I used a water pail with outpouring bible scriptures to represent the “cool dispensing of sacrament in the burnished doldrums. ” Doldrums is used to describe the low spirits of the slaves on the ship that had no idea what was in store for the future of their offspring.

When visualizing the words of the poem I saw the word of God as a huge reason for keeping these slaves pressing on and hopeful during the long harsh journeys they had to tolerate, which is why I chose to outpour this from the pail. The “slight shift of cargo” is symbolized by the gingerbread man being on the boat, and while the boat looking forward to the future, him eventually being on top of the world. In Slavery days, African Americans were looked at as merely cargo, and not as humans, which explains the shift that has happened overtime and is still happening today.

These African American slaves went from being items on a boat to some of the most successful people in American history. After the second stanza, the speaker reflects on the past, which are the first two stanzas. She uses the expression “what haunted us later,” as a way to show what was still effective after all this time and modification. It expresses the enlightenment that stuck with these slaves throughout their experience. The tattered sails and burned wood on the boat signifies the struggles of their journey.

The author makes it obvious that their journey was not an easy one when she states “we had made landfall between forests of sandalwood, taken on salt, falcons and sulphur. ” The diversity of this description assists to help the reader see the slave ships struggle was not just one particular one, but almost any and every problem you could think of. The speaker gives the slave ship character, as though it was the one to view and experience all of the combat. We came to unexpected latitude – sighted the slave ship…” makes it seem as though the slave ship saw all of this through a pair of it’s own eyes. I think this poem is very powerful. It exhibits how the power of God and man can become intertwined to shift spirits and circumstances. The book where I found this poem was titled “The Poem and the Journey,” and this is a perfect example of a poem taking you on a journey. From the dog-days of the beginning of slavery, until the modernization of today, with only four stanza’s, portrays the voyage of African Americans.

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