Way Down South in Dixie (a word that indicates the South: negative word)
(Break the heart of me)
They hung my black young lover
To a tree at the cross of the roads.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Bruised body in the air)
I asked the white Lord Jesus
What was the use of prayer.
Way Down South in Dixie
(Break the heart of me)
Love is a naked shadow
On a gnarled (deformed) and naked tree.
The speaker of this poem I think is a black man who has witnessed his love being beaten and hung by a white man/ white men. I think that the lines in the parenthesis indicate what he is really feeling but cannot express to other people because he is a black man. The last line means that his lover is a naked shadow, shadow describing her skin color, and hanging from a deformed and naked tree. The strongest line besides that one, to me is, “ I asked the white Lord Jesus…”. I felt like it was very strong because he says he asked but there is no question mark, therefore he made a statement. What is the use of prayer when all you pray for, you lose? I think that is the real question he was asking.
(by Sara Bell/posted by Ms. Winter)
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