The Story of the Exodus and the Images of the Promised Land and Heaven in the Poetry of African American Spirituals

• Authors: Ziółek-Sowińska Małgorzata
• Languages of publication: EN

Abstracts

EN

Since the beginning of slavery blacks discovered in the Bible stories which provided not only narratives and language to delineate the difficulty of being a slave, but also hope for a better future in the afterlife. The Exodus was perceived as the Bible’s main argument that God denounced slavery and would come in a catastrophic event to judge those who mistreated blacks. This article is devoted to the exploration of the biblical figure of Exodus as a recurring trope in selected lyrics of slave spirituals and spirituals recorded by bluesmen. Scholars seem to agree that the Exodus is the migration narrative, but in this article I seek to demonstrate that it may also represent the theme of going on a spiritual journey to the other side in the hereafter or the end of time city the New Jerusalem.

Keywords

EN

Exodus; slaves; spirituals; the Promised Land; the New Jerusalem

• Publisher: Łódzkie Towarzystwo Naukowe, Stowarzyszenie
• Journal: Zagadnienia Rodzajów Literackich
• Year: 2017
• Volume: 60
• Issue: 4 (124)
• Pages: 33-47

Dates

published

2018

Contributors

author

Ziółek-Sowińska Małgorzata

• Ośrodek Studiów Amerykańskich Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego

References

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Identifiers

ISSN

0084-4446