A New Kind of Literary Pulse

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Classics 19th Century African American Literature  1 min

George Moses Horton, Myself

George Moses Horton

George Moses Horton

Known as the "Black bard of North Carolina", G. M. Horton wrote his first collection, The Hope of Liberty (1829), to earn enough money to purchase his freedom, but in vain. He did not become free until 1865, when Union troops and the Emancipation Proclamation reached North Carolina.

I feel myself in need
Of the inspiring strains of ancient lore,
My heart to lift, my empty mind to feed,
And all the world explore.

I know that I am old
And never can recover what is past,
But for the future may some light unfold
And soar from ages blast.

I feel resolved to try,
My wish to prove, my calling to pursue,
Or mount up from the earth into the sky,
To show what Heaven can do.

My genius from a boy,
Has fluttered like a bird within my heart;
But could not thus confined her powers employ,
Impatient to depart.

She like a restless bird,
Would spread her wings, her power to be unfurl'd,
And let her songs be loudly heard,
And dart from world to world.