In the poem, "Ethiopia" by Frances Harper, the one thing that really stuck out to me was the powerful imagery she conveys through her writing. Not only is it vivid but it parallels itself to the Bible story of the slaves in Egypt. While reading this my mind kept going back to the first scene from The Prince of Egypt, for those who have seen the movie, where the slaves are toiling in the hot sun, covered in dust with their scarred hands stretched out towards God. Harper writes in her poem about the peace that has finally come, that the "tyrant's yoke off from her neck, his fetters from her soul," but the imagery she portrays here makes the reader feel that they were that of cattle, since oxen were driven by yokes in Biblical times. The imagery she uses through out the poem is very powerful and leaves one feeling like they themselves have been freed by an affliction, that they should join in the calming celebration found in freedom. Her imagery does not spur the reader to do something drastic, but instead gives a feeling that everything is going to be "ok" now, that we are free and we are to give thanks. She writes in her final stanza "Then, Ethiopia! stretch, oh! stretch they bleeding hands abroad; They cry of agony shall reach, And find redress from God." I feel that in this final thought she reminds the reader that they were in pain by saying "bleeding hands" but then, not ending in anger or call to action, she says to turn to God and he will give you rest. The imagery in this poem is in this consistent pattern, pain afflicted and then finding solace in God and his protection.
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