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1814

Davis, John. "The Angel of the Wild." [Philadelphia] Port Folio 3rd series, 3.4 (April 1814): 374-75. In this second poem on "Mercy's meekest child" published outside his prose works, Davis focuses squarely on the rescue moment. Pocahontas's appeal is so powerful that Powhatan immediately stays the execution and gathers her in his arms: "When lo! with scream of anguish loud, / A tender child, in gorgeous vest, / Runs to the stranger, through the crowd, / And, kneeling, clasps him to her breast. / See, see her arms around him twined, / And hear her pour her piteous wail, / As if for hopeless love she pined, / Her tresses loose, her dear cheek pale." The footnote indicating Pocahontas was eleven seems to qualify what might be meant by "hopeless love."
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