Summary

‘I heard Victoria plainly say,
If we would all forsake
Our native land of slavery,
And come across the Lake.
That she was standing on the shore,
With arms extended wide,
To give us all a peaceful home,
Beyond the rolling tide.’

Simpson's use of the term ‘Victoria’ could be more of a symbolic figure highlighting freedom in the North. It could also be a reference made to the British Queen who ruled during the slavery period. The speaker tries to speak directly to individuals who had been enslaved and persuades them to abandon their homeland which is a ‘land of slavery.’ In this persuasion, Simpson applies the word ‘forsake’ as a heavy term that involves sacrificing oneself and leaving their comfort zone for a better and improved life. One of the things that gather from this section is that the Great Lakes is a symbolic entity that acts as a key physical barrier separating enslaved individuals from the freedom that wish to get in the nearby country of Canada. There lies a sense of hope and an ultimate promise of a peaceful home later in their lives which is contrary to the unforgiving certainties of slavery.