James Weldon Johnson

Weldon appeared to be a religious individual I thought from the tone of his works. In "O Black and Unknown Bards" I thought he was not only displaying religious aspects, but perhaps recollecting the sacrifices his slave ancestors made for him and other fellow African Americans. I thought this poem was his way of paying respect to slave ancestors especially when he mentioned the old slave song "Swing Low Sweet Chariot" which to my understanding was a traditional slave song. The best line I thought was when he said "O black slave singers, gone, forgot, unfamed, You-you alone, of all the long, long line Of those who've sung untaught, unknown, unnamed, Have stretched out upward, seeking the divene".