The Poetry of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow and John Greenleaf Whittier When a man’s human dignity is beaten out of him, his liberty deprived and is to be perpetually subject to the will of his master at all times, he no longer has faith in himself or his abilities. He is also compelled to spend his entire labor for the benefit of another and receive in return only the bare necessities. This condition of degradation is aggravated by the mere fact that the slave is generally deprived of all means of intellectual development for himself and his children. However, Venture Smith surprised and contradicted those who