Biography of William J. Grayson
William John Grayson was born on November 12,1788 in South Carolina. Early on he knew that he was going to be a writer due to his deep fascination with books. He Graduated from South Carolina in 1809 and started his journey to greatness. In 1813 he became a part of the South Carolina legislature which was the start of his long journey through politics. Although Graysons political journey came to a halt in 1837, he still continued to be an active force throughout the South. Grayson eventually turned back to his roots of writing and became a contending force with his pen. Amongst all of his writings he is most famous for his poem The Hireling and the Slave which is also considered one of longest poems of all time.
The Hireling and the Slave
FALLEN from primeval innocence and ease,
When thornless fields employed him but to please, *The laborer toils; and from his dripping brow Moistens the lengthening farrows of the plow; In vain he scorns or spurns his altered state, Tries each poor shift, and strives to cheat his fate; In vain new-shapes his name to shun the ill- Slave, hireling, help the curse pursues him still; Changeless the doom remains, the mincing phrase May mock high Heaven, but not reverse its ways. How small the choice, from cradle to the grave, Between the lot of hireling, help, or slave! To each alike applies the stern decree That man shall labor; whether bond or free, For all that toil, the recompense we claim -- Food, fire, a home and clothing —is the same. The manumitted serfs of Europe find Unchanged this sad estate of all mankind; What blessing to the churl has freedom proved, What want supplied, what task or toil removed? Hard work and scanty wages still their lot, In youth o’erlabored, and in age forgot, The mocking boon of freedom they deplore, In wants and labors never known before. *Free but in name —the slaves of endless toil, In Britain still they turn, the stubborn soil, Spread on each sea her sails for every mart, Ply in her cities every useful art; But vainly may the peasant toil and groan To speed the plow in furrows not his own; In vain the art is plied, the sail is spread, The day s work offered for the daily bread; With hopeless eye, the pauper hireling sees The homeward sail swell proudly to the breeze, Rich fabrics wrought by his unequaled hand, Borne by each breeze to every distant land; For him, no boon successful commerce yields, For him no harvest crowns the joyous fields, The streams of wealth that foster pomp and pride, No food nor shelter for his wants provide; He fails to win, by toil intensely hard, The bare subsistence —labor’s least reward. In squalid hut —a kennel for the poor, Or noisome cellar, stretched upon the floor, His clothing rags, of filthy straw his bed, With offal from the gutter daily fed, Thrust out from Nature’s board, the hireling lies: No place for him that common board supplies, No neighbor helps, no charity attends, No philanthropic sympathy befriends; None heed the needy wretch’s dying groan, He starves unsuccor’d, perishes unknown. These are the miseries, such the wants* the cares, The bliss that freedom for the serf prepares; Vain is his skill in each familiar task, Capricious Fashion shifts her Protean mask, His ancient craft gives work and bread no more, And Want and Death sit scowling at his door. Close by the hovel, with benignant air, To lordly halls illustrious crowds repair* - The Levite tribes of Christian love that show No care nor pity for a neighbor’s woe; Who meet, each distant evil to deplore, But not to clothe or feed their country’s poor; They waste no thought on common wants or pains, On misery hid in filthy courts and lanes, On alms that ask no witnesses but Heaven, By pious hands to secret suffering given; Theirs the bright sunshine of the public eye, The pomp and circumstance of charity, -Part 1 of The Hireling and the Slave pg. 21-23 Works Cited
Books:
Grayson, William J. “The Hireling and the slave, Chicora,and other Poems”. Charleston,S.C.: McCarter,1856. Calhoun, Richard J. “Witness to Sorrow: The Antebellum Autobiography of William J. Grayson”. University of South Carolina Press,1990. Academic Journal: Jarrett, Thomas D. “The Literary Significance of William J. Grayson's 'The Hireling and the Slave'”.Winter 1951. The Georgia Review, Vol. 5, Issue 4, p487-494, 8p. Images: http://www.recoveredhistories.org/storiesproslavery.php http://www.19thcenturyart-facos.com/chapter/chapter-6 http://bjws.blogspot.com/2013/10/19c-america-slaves-sing-dance.html http://www.thickets.net/toren/2010/04/23/dd-hirelings/hireling-major/ http://historyproject.ucdavis.edu/ic/image_details.php?id=8894 http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_J._Grayson http://www.forgottenbooks.org/books/The_Hireling_and_the_Slave_1000725378 |
The Justification of Slavery
Grayson saw slaves as privileged Negros living in a
Christian land. Grayson put such an emphasis on
justifying why slavery was good for the Negro race in the south, when he said
“The Negro learns each civilizing art that softens and subdues the savage
heart…And slowly learns, but surely, while a slave, that lessons that his
country never gave.” He believed that only America could give Negros what we
call civilization and give them the knowledge that they needed to improve as a
race.“ To tame and elevate the Negro mind: Thus mortal purposes, whate’er their
mood, are only means with heaven for working good…” stated Grayson in a way to get others to see
that this was something ordained by God. He simply saw the buying and selling
of slaves as something for their own good, although he does recognize that the
journey may have been rough. He wrote “Revile the buyers, but retain the gold”
and through this verse he is merely saying that the slave may have hated being
taken through the process of being brought and sold, but they were the ones
gaining humanity, identity, homes, food,
clothes, protection, and amongst everything else civilization.
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