Black Horses

The black horses symbolize the dehumanizing nature of economic exploitation. Because both the “reapers” and “horses” are described as “Black,” the poem suggests an equivalence between them – they only derive value from their ability to be work animals that meet the demand of the harvest (1, 5). The adjective “black,” when applied to both the reapers and the horses, also highlights the arbitrariness of racial discrimination. While the color simply describes the horses’ color, the same word, when used to describe skin color, becomes the justification for relegating individuals to oppressive labor conditions for sake of economic gain. Therefore, the parallel between the reapers and horses implies how racism is a social construct. But because skin color as a marker of difference has already become so entrenched in society, one cannot simply ignore the implications of “Black” – when used to describe skin color in the case of...