Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.

“Swing Low, Sweet Chariot” is an old slave hymn sung by the slaves as they work in the fields, and has a beautiful tune. It was also sung by many famous artists like Johnny Cash. In a critical analysis of “Swing low, Sweet Chariots” Randal Huff writes, “In line 3 the speaker looks over the landscape of the Holy Land, distilled here to the single country of Jordan so often mentioned in the Bible, and finds "a band of angels" coming after him/her to carry him home.”(Huff) Some say that this refers to when the Hebrew slaves were brought out of slavery by Moses,(Exodus 13:17) People believe that the African American slaves are crying out to God to relieve of their misery, just as the Hebrew slaves were before God sent Moses. In that bible passage there is no reference to a chariot. In the song one of the main lines is, “Swing low, Sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home.”(Anonymous 364) In 2 Kings 2:11-12 the prophet Elijah is taken into heaven by a chariot of fire. We do not know which one it is, and it may be a combination of both. The slaves were all eager to be set free and they knew the only way that would happen is if the died. They were asking God to take them home peacefully. In this hymn, and “Go Down, Moses” and “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” there is such a reverence and a firm belief in God and his power. In “Go Down, Moses” it says, “Thus saith the Lord”( Anonymous 347) and in “Keep Your Hand on the Plow” it says, “Got my hand on the gospel plow, Wouldn’t take nothin’ for my journey now…”( Anonymous 348) These hymns display the strong faith the slaves had.

Emerson and Thoreau have a different angle. They do not have a strong belief if any in God. In “Nature” Emerson makes the scenery more important then God. He writes, “the currents of the Universal Being circulate through me; I am part or parcel of God.” (Emerson 192) Emerson puts himself in the same class as God. Thoreau writes in “Walden”, “and have somewhat hastily concluded that it is the chief end of man here to “Glorify God and enjoy him forever’”(Thoreau 214) Thoreau dismisses the fact that we were put here on Earth to glorify God forever! Both of theses writers are so contradictory to what the slave hymns are saying.

Anonymous . "Go Down, Moses." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Anonymous "Keep your Hand on the Plow." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Emerson, W. Ralph. "Nature." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Anonymous. "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.

Thoreau, D. Henry. "From Walden." Comp. Jeffrey D. Wilhelm, Ph.D. and Douglas Fisher, Ph.D. Glencoe Literature. American Literature ed. Columbus: McGraw-Hill Companies, 2009. 97-99. Print.