The Closet Professor

Compensation
By James Edwin Campbell

O, rich young lord, thou ridest by
With looks of high disdain;
It chafes me not thy title high,
Thy blood of oldest strain.
The lady riding at thy side
Is but in name thy promised bride.
    Ride on, young lord, ride on!

Her father wills and she obeys,
The custom of her class;
’Tis Land not Love the trothing sways—
For Land he sells his lass.
Her fair white hand, young lord, is thine,
Her soul, proud fool, her soul is mine,
    Ride on, young lord, ride on!

No title high my father bore;
The tenant of thy farm,
He left me what I value more:
Clean heart, clear brain, strong arm
And love for bird and beast and bee
And song of lark and hymn of sea,
    Ride on, young lord, ride on!

The boundless sky to me belongs,
The paltry acres thine;
The painted beauty sings thy songs,
The lavrock lilts me mine;
The hot-housed orchid blooms for thee,
The gorse and heather bloom for me,
    Ride on, young lord, ride on!

About the Poem

Campbell was among the first African-American poets to write in the African-American vernacular dialect. “Compensation” is one of his poems in which he did not use the African-American vernacular dialect. His first book, Driftings and Gleanings, a volume of poetry and essays in standard American English, was published in 1887.

In “Compensation,” Campbell uses the image of a young lord riding around observing his serfs. It is an analogy for the sharecropping system developed in the South after the American Civil War. After the Civil War, former slaves sought jobs, and planters sought laborers. The absence of cash or an independent credit system led to the creation of sharecropping, a system where the landlord/planter allows a tenant to use the land in exchange for a share of the crop. This encouraged tenants to work to produce the biggest harvest that they could and ensured they would remain tied to the land and unlikely to leave for other opportunities. 

Serfdom was the status of many peasants under feudalism, specifically relating to manorialism and similar systems. It was a condition of debt bondage and indentured servitude with similarities to and differences from slavery, just as sharecropping was. It developed during the Late Antiquity and Early Middle Ages in Europe and lasted in some countries until the mid-19th century. Unlike slaves but similar to sharecroppers, serfs could not be bought, sold, or traded individually though they could, depending on the area, be sold together with land.

“Compensation” is a contrast between the “young lord” who believes he is above it all and intimidates all those who live on his land. In the poem, land is the most important thing to the young lord, it is how he keeps his aristocratic lifestyle. In the South, the planters had lost all of their free labor and were at risk of losing their status at the top of Southern society. The young lord is said to “ridest by/ With looks of high disdain.” He shows his power over people with his haughtiness.

Campbell though points out how even though bonded by sharecropping, the black tenant farmers were still better off than when they were slaves, though in actuality that is debatable. They weren’t owned, but their debts were, and sharecropping became a form of debt bondage. Cambell’s speaker in the poem says that while he was not left land by his father like the young lord, he did have a “clean heart, clear brain, strong arm.”

I think the picture above is a nice complement to the poem. It reminds me of the folktale, “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” The story is about a vain emperor who gets exposed before his subjects. His vanity causes the emperor to be a naked fool to his subjects. In the poem, the young lord is also vain and believes he is above all others, but his “subjects” have something he does not have, a “clean heart, clear brain, strong arm.”

About the Poet

James Edwin Campbell was born on September 28, 1867, in Pomeroy, Ohio. He graduated from Pomeroy Academy in 1884. While still in school, he began to write poetry and stories in dialect. 

A poet, essayist, and educator, Campbell published two books in his lifetime: Driftings and Gleanings (State Tribune, 1887), a compilation of poems and essays; and Echoes from the Cabin and Elsewhere (Donohue & Henneberry, 1895), a full collection of poetry.

Campbell taught for two years at Buck Ridge, near Gallipoli, Ohio, and became involved in Republican politics in his state. He then ventured into journalism, writing for the West Virginia-based newspaper, Pioneer. He left the paper to return to education. Campbell led Langston School in Point Pleasant, West Virginia, and, from 1892–94, became the first president of West Virginia Colored Institute (now, West Virginia State College). In the mid-1890s, Campbell moved to Chicago and wrote for the Chicago Times-Herald, while publishing poems in other periodicals. 

Campbell died on January 26, 1896, of typhoid pneumonia while visiting his parents for Christmas. He published his last poem, “Homesick,” on December 7, 1895, in the Chicago Conservator. It was reprinted in an Ohio newspaper.