Whittier, John Greenleaf. "The Hunters of Men".

Author's Note

These lines were written when the orators of the American Colonization Society were demanding that the free blacks should be sent to Africa, and opposing Emancipation unless expatriation followed. See the report of the proceedings of the society at its annual meeting in 1834.

Summary and Analysis

An extremely ironical anti-slavery poem.

The speaker describes the hunting of men which strongly resembles fox hunting. The lords of the land follow the sound of the horn, sounds of whips and barking of hounds are to be heard. He wishes luck to the proud and zealous hunters; among which a priest and a statesman is present, a saint and a sinner, and also women.

The speaker observes that it grand to see the hunting of a black man whose only sin is his dark skin and curly hair. He calls for the alms for the hunters whose glory is becoming dim and whose eyes start reflecting fear. Alms for them, or else who would ride then, for pleasure or gain, to the hunting of men?