Poetry · Chapter
July in Georgy explained
The speaker returns to Georgia in July, describing the hot sun, tasseling corn, opening cotton, ripening sugarcane, singing locusts, humming bumblebees, and dreaming mules.
What happens
The speaker returns to Georgia in July, describing the hot sun, tasseling corn, opening cotton, ripening sugarcane, singing locusts, humming bumblebees, and dreaming mules. The crops are laid by, and everyone is resting, eating watermelon, and lying in the shade as camp-meeting time approaches.
Themes in this chapter
Nature and the Divine
The chapter vividly describes the natural world of Georgia in July—sun, corn, cotton, sugarcane, locusts, bumblebees, and mules—suggesting a harmonious, almost sacred connection between the land and the community's rest.
Resilience and Hope
After the labor of planting and tending crops, the community rests and anticipates the camp-meeting, reflecting a cycle of hard work followed by spiritual renewal and hope.
Key passages
“July in Georgy I’m back down in ole Georgy w’ere de sun is shinin’ hot, W’ere de cawn it is a-tasslin’, gittin’ ready fu’ de pot; W’ere de cott’n is a-openin’ an’ a-w’itenin’ in de sun, An’ de ripenin’ o’ de sugah-cane is mighty nigh begun.”
In July, I return to old Georgia where the sun blazes hot, the corn is tasseling and nearly ready to cook, the cotton is opening and whitening in the sun, and the sugarcane is almost ripe.
The speaker sets the scene of a Georgia summer, emphasizing the heat and the ripening crops.
“But evehbody is a-restin’, fu’ de craps is all laid by, An’ time fu’ de camp-meetin’ is a-drawin’ purty nigh; An’ we’s put away de ploughshare, an’ we’s done hung up de spade, An’ we’s eatin’ watermelon, an’ a-layin’ in de shade.”
Everyone is resting because the crops are all harvested, and the camp meeting is approaching. We have put away the plow and hung up the spade, and now we eat watermelon and lie in the shade.
The chapter concludes with a peaceful image of rest and anticipation for the upcoming religious camp meeting.