Topic > Hoping for an Abolition of Slavery: Review of Poetry by Hannah More

Slavery began in 1619, when a Dutch ship brought 20 African slaves ashore in the British colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Throughout the 17th century, European settlers in North America turned to African slaves as a cheaper and more abundant source of labor than indentured servants, who were mostly poor Europeans. After the American Revolution, many colonists – particularly in the North, where slavery was relatively unimportant to the agricultural economy – began to link the oppression of black slaves to their own oppression by the English, and to call for the abolition of slavery. More wrote Slavery, A Poem in the hope of the abolition of slavery. He also wrote the poem in hopes of influencing others to join the abolition campaign and oppose slavery. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Hannah More's poem "A Slavery" is one of the works that shed light on the issue of slavery and called for its abolition; with the help of others because it asks people to realize that racism and discrimination based on skin color are absurd. Hannah More is an educator, writer and social reformer. She is also known for her writings on the abolition of slavery and for encouraging people to join her and oppose slavery. Others contributed to the abolition movement through his writings which helped spread awareness of the movement. More was not always an activist or part of the abolition movement in the beginning. In 1788 he met William Wilberforce and learned of his abolition movement. She then joined William Wilberforce's campaign to raise awareness of the movement and the goal of abolishing slavery. As a result, his poem “Slavery” came to life. The poem dramatically describes mistreated and enslaved African Americans separated from their families and questions Britain's role in the slave trade. He criticizes it more clearly along with those who are inferior to slavery. He attempts to persuade his readers and listeners to adopt an anti-slavery position. Not only that, More wants others to realize that Africans are equal to whites. More information refers to this later in the poem and I will explain it in the following lines. In his poem, More begins by telling us that this poem is not like the others. This will be a real life event and not a fictional one. This is brilliant on More's part as it grabs our attention from the first line. It makes a reference to the work of Aphra Behn who wrote Oroonoko; More says: “Millions of people feel what Oroonoko felt.” More also adds to its credibility as it clearly conveys the horrific way in which these slaves are captured. Also, in this line More mentions Oroonoko's struggles and how millions of people at that time are going through what he went through. Oroonoko is the story of an African prince who suffers from slavery. Here More uses the present tense and continues to emphasize that these slaves are suffering what Oroonoko suffered but they are still suffering. This does not fail to attract the attention of readers to understand the great amount of injustice and suffering experienced by Africans. These two lines not only provide the true state of these slaves' standard of living, but they grant More a great sense of credibility. I also like the way More approaches this complicated issue. The theme of slavery, especially at the time,it was a heavy topic to discuss. However, More managed to brilliantly discuss this issue. More uses several tactics to appeal to the logic and morals of his readers. More does this by directing questions. The questions were simple and More knew the answers; in fact in the following lines he responds with examples. If we want to know why More asks these questions to which he already knows the answer we must ask ourselves an important question. Who are these questions addressed to? To? The answer is aimed at the British public in particular and the world in general. These questions test and move logic in people's minds, in the hope that the answers will make the British community understand for themselves that there is no difference between them and the Africans they continue to enslave and oppress. More asks, “Then does the inner immortal principle change with random skin color?” She responds that “…No. They have heads to think, hearts to feel, and souls...". Further on, More briefly refers to the sad fate and life of the generation that will come after the slavery of their parents/grandparents. More says: "I see, more than through the mirror of fantasy, the village in flames and the city in flames: I see the terrible victim torn from social life... dragged by hostile hands, sold to distant tyrants... The only sad legacy his son gets!” . The author is illiterate and repeats the same idea throughout the poem. Emphasize that these slaves are no different from us and that they deserve to be treated accordingly, not differently. I noticed a pattern that More follows as a strategy. First he got our attention by telling us that what he would tell us in the poem is not fantasy but rather real life. Then he talked about how slaves suffer, then he compared Africans to whites showing the British community that they are no different from each other. Subsequently, More incorporates religion into his belief in the abolition of slavery. Not to mention how More argues that ending the slave trade will also benefit the country. So, talk about moral and religious factors. These slaves helped Britain prosper as Britain suffered from poverty and they had no food to grow. These slaves worked hard for years and managed to make Britain great again. Slaves not only aided British agriculture. DN Ghosh, author of Representation of Slavery in English Literature, talks about a 25-page survey by author WA Speck that grabs readers' attention. Ghosh explains that the growth of Britain's commercial prosperity occurred when they set sail with ships loaded with a cargo of manufactured goods that they would exchange at the next stop (on the Caribbean plantation) for the profit they made from selling the "Negros." ' with more profit. Furthermore, he says: "there is not a brick in the city other than that cemented with the blood of a slave... the palaces, the luxurious life and the wealth were derived from the slave trade and their suffering... no reader of English literature will ever understand the human misery and agony of the slave trade.” After that, these slaves still desire their stolen rights with little or no regard for the suffering they experience and Stanley L. Engerman, entitled “The Importance of Slavery and the Slave Trade to the Industrialization of Great Britain.” It answers an important question about the real importance that the slave systems of the Americas had for the economic development of Europe , and for the development of that of Great Britain in particular. The article explores the period in 1788 when the first attack on the British slave trade occurred.