I’ve been reading ‘The Corn Maiden and Other Nightmares’ by Joyce Carol Oates, and I’m sorry but I don’t like it… I don’t like the premise, I don’t like the writing, I don’t engage with the characters, the narrative or the setting… I know my friends have read it and really enjoyed it, and it is well written even though not to my taste… but it’s just not my sort of book…
Thinking of corn, I came across the Corn-Song, by the great poet, Paul Laurence Dunbar who was born in 1872 in Dayton, Ohio; his parents had been born slaves and his father had fought in the Civil War. His parents encouraged him to become educated and he enrolled at an all-white high school where not only did he become editor of the school newspaper, but also the president of the literary society.
He became a successful poet and travelled widely including visiting Europe. Sadly, he died at the early age of 33.
A Corn-Song
ON the wide veranda white,
In the purple failing light,
Sits the master while the sun is lowly burning;
And his dreamy thoughts are drowned
In the softly flowing sound
Of the corn-songs of the field-hands slow returning.
Oh, we hoe de co’n
Since de ehly mo’n;
Now de sinkin’ sun
Says de day is done.
O’er the fields with heavy tread,
Light of heart and high of head,
Though the halting steps be labored, slow, and weary;
Still the spirits brave and strong
Find a comforter in song,
And their corn-song rises ever loud and cheery.
Oh, we hoe de co’n
Since de ehly mo’n;
Now de sinkin’ sun
Says de day is done.
To the master in his seat,
Comes the burden, full and sweet,
Of the mellow minor music growing clearer,
As the toilers raise the hymn,
Thro’ the silence dusk and dim,
To the cabin’s restful shelter drawing nearer.
Oh, we hoe de co’n
Since de ehly mo’n;
Now de sinkin’ sun
Says de day is done.
And a tear is in the eye
Of the master sitting by,
As he listens to the echoes low-replying
To the music’s fading calls
As it faints away and falls
Into silence, deep within the cabin dying.
Oh, we hoe de co’n
Since de ehly mo’n;
Now de sinkin’ sun
Says de day is done.Paul Laurence Dunbar
Lois Elsden 