Question

Lift up thy head, exhausted slave,
Nor to the woods for shelter flee;
Vain shall the threat’ning tyrant save,
The flag floats over the free.

Come home then straggling wretch, come home,
And from a rebel scorn to flee;
No more thro’ sultry valley’s roam,
The flag floats over the free.

No longer let the sighs be heard,
From vassals on the bended knee;
Forbidden to return a word,
The flag floats over the free.

–“The Flag of the Free,”
George Moses Horton

Reread the final three stanzas of "The Flag of the Free.” Then, click to see a list of universal themes in PDF or word-processing format. Which universal theme is most expressed in this part of the poem?

the power of guilt
the importance of family
the experience of oppression
the impact of the past on the present

Answer 1

The experience of oppression. Horton directly addresses "exhausted slave," "threat’ning tyrant," and "vassals on the bended knee," contrasting their suffering and silencing with the promise of freedom in the repeated line, "The flag floats over the free."