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Swing Low Sweet Chariotquestions: How is this song about escaping the physical conditions of slavery? How is this song about religious hope and faith? How is this song reflective of it's time period? How does it relate to today?
In the spirit of brevity this is more than likely to be the most boring post I have made yet...
How is this song about escaping the physical conditions of slavery?
This song is about angels riding down from heaven on a golden chariot to take people to their heavenly home. The song says, "Swing Low Sweet Chariot, comin' for to carry me home. Swing Low, sweet chariot, comin' for to carry me home." This line is repeated throughout the song as the chorus refers to death, and their ascension from this earth where they are slaves to heaven where they are taught they will all be happy. This song is the expression of their faith that someday they will escape their bondage, and the horrible conditions of slavery, and meet their creator.
How is this song about religious hope and faith?
This song speaks of bands of angels that will whisk them away from their heartache here. This song was an expression of their religious hope and faith by truly believing that god would save them. The song declares, "I looked over Jordan and what did I see?... a band of angels comin' after me." These lines describe a persons faith in what will happen after their death, which is that they will go for heaven. This was a song mainly sung by African Americans originally. It describes their hope in their position in life because the author of this song truly believes that god loves them, and will take them home.
How is this song reflective of it's time period?
During the period that this song was sung slaves would have been everywhere. It was also one of those time periods where most slaves had been born into slavery, and were taught Christianity at a young age. People of that time clung to their faith deeply, and it would be especially true for African Americans, because this faith promised them a final reward; a bright infinity; hope. This song is a clear reflection of that. The song describes the strong faith that was felt at that time.
How does it relate to today?
This song is about strong faith, and arguably we have, today, a large amount of faith, not necessarily in god, or any other deities, but in life itself. No one seems particularly troubled at the thought that everything that seems to be happening right now could be all a simulation, and we could be nothing but a bunch of brains floating around in goo... hey, I don't even know if you guys really exist this could all be one crazy voodoo mind trick created by aliens which have taken over the earth, and left a select few humans alive for experimentation... but what can you do? People have faith in everything until they're given a reason not to, but many people have faith in a god. I mean when you have an entire party one of the worlds largest governments whose ideas about money are the only thing that aren't in sync with The Bible, you know that faith is important to the people of today's society. The song relates to today in other ways than just in drawing parallels. This song is a part of history. It speaks about one of our darkest periods of time, and that is slavery. It relates to today by reminding the people who live in today to look back at the past, and be reminded of our mistakes, and learn from them.
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