Wade in the Water

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 2018

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Water

Water runs through the poem, from the title to the final image of God “troubling” the water. “Wade in the Water” is an allusion to the African American spiritual, a song that itself is an allusion to Moses freeing the Israelites from the pharaoh by crossing the Red Sea. Wading in the water was a sign of faith in God because the Israelites put their faith in God as they passed through the Nile River to escape the Egyptians. Similarly, the spiritual could be read as a song about faith in God. But the song had a practical subtext as well. By stepping into the water, the enslaved who were trying to escape from their enslavers could elude the dogs who could no longer trail their scent once they were in the water. The “blood-deep” (Line 22) song shows the pain and death inflicted on the enslaved and their deep desire to escape despite the danger. The song allows the speaker and reader to enter the water as well, understanding some of the pain as they clap hands and stomp feet with the Gullah Geechee.

Light

The light in this poem is full of pain. By shining light on the truth of the past, the performance triggers pain for the speaker, who is overwhelmed by the pain of enslavement and the pain of its legacy. The light is compared to bright light that floods a room once “the drapes / Have been swept back” (Lines 6-7). This powerful light that is surrounded by the drawn drapes is also suggestive of stage curtains that have been pulled back, allowing the show to begin. As the performer walks through the crowd and greets each member of the audience, each person is “pierced suddenly / By pillars of heavy light” (Lines 10-11) as the speaker’s feeling of pain is echoed in the reactions of the other audience members. By the end of the poem, the light is full of “swirling dust motes / In those beams of light” (Lines 27-28). The dust is suggestive of history, as the performance shakes up the past, scattering the dust into the light.

Rusted Iron Chains

When iron interacts with water and oxygen, rust forms over time. And over time, the chains that gripped the bodies of the enslaved grew red with rust. At the end of the Gullah Geechee performance, the re-enactment of the enslaved achieving freedom happens when the rusty chains are released from their limbs and their necks:

[T]he rusted iron

Chains someone was made

To drag until love let them be

Unclasped and left empty

In the center of the ring (Lines 15-19).

The chains are left in the middle of the “ring,” suggesting that the physical chains are left in the middle of the stage.

But the rusted chains not only symbolize the brutal conditions for the enslaved. The circular shape of the chain can also symbolize the circular motions of the ring that the performers move in during the ring shout. The circle is also symbolic of the greater community that is created by the ring shout. The spectators, who were once outsiders, have been brought inside the circle. The chain does not have to be trapped in slavery symbolism, but it can be “unclasped” into a freer interpretation, one that allows for the complexity of love.