"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," "Go Down, Moses," "Keep Your Hand on the Plow"

"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" offers an adequate example of realism. The literary piece is a spiritually inclined piece, using various symbolic answers to convey its message. When comparing the categories of Realism, I feel that "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" coexists with a more Regionalism style of writing. I say this because of the pieces many references to "home" (Wilhelm, et al). With the heavy use of repetition, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" adequately conveys its purpose with the use of Realism. Because it does not have definitive examples of factual actions, characters, or settings, it retains a Realist style due to its ability to effectively use the setting as a prominent theme throughout the literary piece. Although its repetition seems to eliminate much content, "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is a fair example of Realism; Regionalism in particular.

In "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot," the anonymous author speaks about "home" in much repetition (Wilhelm, et al). In the following line, readers may inherit this repetitive, yet effective style which is found in the piece:

"Swing low, sweet chariot. Coming for to carry me home, Swing low, sweet chariot, Coming for to carry me home...If I get there before you do,
(Coming for to carry me home)I'll cut a hole and pull you through.(Coming for to carry me home)" (Wilhelm, et al)

In this divided excerpt, readers may effectively obtain the knowledge of Regionalism in this piece. The line, "coming for to carry me home," is a common piece used throughout the entire song (Wilhelm, et al). Because of this, Realism and its subcategory are successfully displayed among the literary piece. Although its repetition creates some redundancy throughout, the song continues to convey its message in a commendable approach.

"Go Down, Moses" is yet another example of Realism. Although this briefly mentions a particular region, the piece is a strong example of Realism (Wilhelm, et al). The piece touches upon various topics, such as slavery and religion. Moses, referring to the biblical figure, retains much praise by the author of this particular piece. Because of this, the piece cannot necessarily coexist with the ideas or basis of Naturalism. Therefore, "Go Down, Moses" correlates with Realism. Another characteristic of the piece that is touched upon would be a hero. Moses can be seen as a biblical hero for the author of this piece. By allowing a spiritual hero to enter, the author created a contrasting style, as opposed to a more Realist style. Despite this factor, the piece retains much factual content, rather than a spiritual or romanticized connection. Throughout its entirety, the piece uses effective language and corresponding content to coexist with "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" and "Keep your Hand on the Plow."

"Keep your Hand on the Plow" effectively conveys a life unfortunately stifled by slavery. Among these three pieces, "Keep your Hand on the Plow" is the most regionally driven song, using much examples of Southern simplicity and dialect. Due to the song's broken dialect, success in relation to Regionalism is established. Regionalism, being a subcategory of Realism, uses common characteristics of the literary style. Although it is quite similar in its entirety, the song shares more characteristics with Regionalism, as opposed to Realism.

Wilhelm, Jeffrey D., Douglas Fisher, Beverly Ann. Chin, and Jacqueline Jones. Royster. Glencoe Literature. New York, NY: Glencoe/McGraw-Hill, 2009. Print.