At the beginning we find the slave alongside scattered rice. His tool, a sickle is in his hand, and the effect of his draining work on his physical countenance. His hair is tousled and his chest uncovered. Fatigue takes it toll and we find that he falls asleep. In the murky gloom of sleep he find his dream.

This is acts as a foreword to the poem, as here we are made familiar with the slave, his work as well the main constituent of the poem, his dream.

As we move ahead in the poem we find ourselves wading through the infinite sea of his dreams. The grand Niger surges forward making it’s path underneath the palm tree on the plain. He envisages himself to be a king. An influential king who marches through his land and is respected by one and all. The slave so absorbed in his dream, hears the “tinkling” caravans as th

The slave now experiences the rush of riding a horse swiftly down the banks of a river. The wind against his back, he feels the casing of his sword throbbing against the side of his horse. We now witness another episode of the slave’s dream. Here he is a man possessed by the stimulation of riding a horse at such a maddening pace. Such a vision cannot help but remind us that this is truly a dream far from the vile reality of the slave’s life.

As the poem nears the end, the slave’s life faces similar fate. He is so enchanted by this fantasy; he fails to perceive the pain inflicted upon him by his master’s whip. Even the smoldering heat of the day does not succeed in affecting him. Death had crossed the threshold into the once secure, “Land of Sleep.” The life had been sucked from his body and his soul had isolated itself from his body.

Here a sense of sympathy arises within us and we see how the slave’s actuality was far from his vivid dreams and how he has only these dreams to resort to and seek comfort from. So captivated by his dream he doesn’t even realize when a tear slips between in his eyes.

ey make their way down the mountain road.

Some topics in this essay:
, Slave’s Dream”, slave’s life, mounted horse, riding horse, slave’s dream,