3 Songs

The three songs/poems I am reviewing over are "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot", "Keep Your Hands on the Plow", and "Go Down Moses". Swing Low, Sweet Chariot is about going home but I take that as going home to the heavens which gives a very religious feel to it. This is known when it says "Comin' for to carry me home," ("Swing...)multiple times during the story. A literary criticism said "His return (or at least the return of someone or some angel from that era) in such a vehicle to convey the speaker to heaven, his/her "home.""(Huff) which explains that home does mean heaven. This makes the story distant from Thoreau and Emerson writings because they were not known for religious writings. Go Down Moses is talking about a religious figure named Moses going down to Egypt asking to let his fellow people go. It is repeated many times "Let my people go"("Go..), which is quite a demanding statement. The story is about a very contravercial concept in the time of the 1940's when it came out. A literary criticism said, "The story is generally recognized as one of Faulkner's most astute handlings of the complex issue of race relations in the South during the 1940s." (Fargnoli) This is very much close to Thoreau's writing because it is on the a complex issue which is very much related to the way Thoreau writes because he tended to stay in the controversial political topics. And lastly Keep Your Hands on the plow is about Christianity as a whole and talking about some major things that happened in it. Such as "Peter was so nice and neat,Wouldn't let Jesus wash his feet." ("Your..) because it is talking specifically about when Jesus washes Peters feet in the Bible. This is a close relation to Emerson because of his intense attention to details in the songs in relation to the Bible. Emerson did not relate so much to the Bible but was very specific.

Fargnoli, Nicholas A., Michael Golay, and Robert W. Hamblin. "'Go Down, Moses'." Critical Companion to William Faulkner: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Critical Companion. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CCWF3044&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 13, 2012).


Huff, Randall. "'Swing Low, Sweet Chariot'." The Facts On File Companion to American Poetry, vol. 1. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2007. Bloom's Literary Reference Online. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= CPAP0396&SingleRecord=True (accessed February 13, 2012).

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, Lyrics." Scout Songs: Song Lyrics for Boy Scouts Songs, Girl Scouts Songs, and American Patriotic Songs. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

"Keep Your Hands on the Plow." Yet Another Digital Tradition Page. Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .

"Go Down Moses." Web. 13 Feb. 2012. .