Midi version of the bar of music.
The Rocks and Mountains
Midi version of the bar of music.
|
Chorus: |
And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the mountains; and said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: for the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand? –King James Bible, Rev. 6:15-17
This song echoes the epigraph from Whittier which talks of a time when all men, Black and White, will rise up together free. The new hiding place is heaven/the North and it is the place for the risen up slave, the escaped slave. DuBois talks of "the rocks and the mountains" being "well known, but home is unknown" (SOBF 163-64). In the South or among those, black or white, who have not striven to rise above the veil, they shall wish for the rocks and the mountains to hide them, but the spiritual is about those who did strive, and for them, the rocks and the mountains — the place that sufficed in lieu of a home for Blacks during slavery — will "all flee away." Sundquist finds the new hiding place to be higher education, in particular, Du Bois's Atlanta University (502).
| Chapter | Title of Chapter | Chapter's Song | Significance of the song | Author | Title | Comment |
| 5 | Of the Wings of Atalanta | The Rocks and the Mountains | Song of fugitives | Whittier | "Howard at Atlanta" | Tether's broken, slave and master are together |