We are going to deal with the concept of sympathy in the context of anti-slavery movements and anti-slave-trade, first by providing readers with an introduction on anti-slave trade, (which was one of the main consequences of colonialism) and the anti-abolitionist movement. The two texts we are going to deal with are Hanna More’s ‘The Sorrows of Yamba’(1795) and Anne Yearsley ‘A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade’ (1788), providing a brief biography of both authoresses and their relevance in the history of literature and more significantly, on their contribution to the anti-abolitionist movement. Both authoresses are related with the anti-abolitionist poetry in Bristol, the other two out of four being Thomas Chatterton and Robert Southey .
Slavery had existed since ancient times, but in the 18th and 19th centuries, it became one of the most important trades in Europe. The main ports for the slave trade in Europe were Bristol, Liverpool and London, where huge fortunes were made. The traders in Africa were members of tribes and they took people from villages.
The anti-slavery movement was developed in Europe by the British Parliament in 1780s and 1790s, but it was beset by the delaying tactics and power of the West-India lobby.
William Wilberforce introduced the Abolition Bill every year in parliament, but it was rejected continually until 1809. 18th century Britons had a concern too, and they objected to the enslavement of Africans in the West Indies. According to Fulford:
‘Many of those objecting were men and women who, appalled by the culture of consumption they saw spreading across Britain, participated in a religious revival of the Church of England. These Evangelicals attacked colonial slavery as a violation of ...
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...88) as it appears in the Course Handbook.
More, Hannah. ‘The Sorrows of Yamba’(1788) as it appears in the Course Handbook.
"English Abolitionist Literature of the Nineteenth Century - Alan Richardson (essay date spring 1996)." Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Russel Whitaker Marie C. Toft. Vol. 136. Gale Cengage, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 1 Dec, 2009 http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/
english-abolitionist-literature-nineteenth-century/alan-richardson-essay-date-spring-1996
"More, Hannah - Robert Hole (essay date 2000)." Nineteenth-Century Literary Criticism. Ed. Russel Whitaker. Vol. 141. Gale Cengage, 2004. eNotes.com. 2006. 2 Dec, 2009 http://www.enotes.com/nineteenth-century-criticism/
more-hannah/robert-hole-essay-date-2000
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part1/1narr4.html (Webpage with information on the Middle cargo passage).
The two overarching patterns of thought regarding antislavery prior to 1830 were colonization and gradualism. In the 1820s, few objected to the institution of slavery itself; rather, blacks themselves
The Transatlantic Slave Trade started out as merchant trading of different materials for slaves. With obtaining a controllable form of labor being their main focus, the Europeans began to move to Africa and take over their land. The natives had to work on the newly stolen land to have a source of income to provide for their families.Soon others Europeans began to look for free labor by scouring the continent of Africa. Because Europeans were not familiar with the environment, Africans were employed to kidnap other Africans for the Transatlantic Slave Trade. After trade routes were established, different economies began to link together, and various items were exchanged across the world. As the Atlantic Slave Trade grew larger, problems began
The eyes of potential soul arose into the world in Senegambia, and half way around the world in Easton arisen a soul to be etched into the world forever. A girl , no , a woman I should say given the strength possessed in the soul of her body and mind and certainly a man , a man who will grow to learn fathoms of knowledge breaking the impenetrable minds of those who heard silence. These two were of separate shades although fused from one deep pigment. Two of the most renowned black writers that were for the abolitionist movement in America were Frederick Douglass and Phillis Wheatley. During the times of slavery, finding a literate black slave who could read the very words of a paper who could then think for themselves and stand up to show who they were , to speak with wisdom to tell off the silenced cowards who looked away at the reality of the world was rare . These two authors with bold spirits managed to write literature that inspired the minds of people to change. Wheatley would move her readers with a delicate, yet powerful literature while Douglass would use strong authoritative use of words. ……During the years of 1773 and 1845, works of perfection and meaning arose. In 1773 a work by Phillis Wheatley was published. A poem called “On Being Brought from Africa to America” that had described a doomed destiny but enclosed in a veil of liberation and sovereignty. Wheatley was one of the more passive writers. She knew she was a slave reckoned with no moral standing in the eyes of the whites, and she was aware of her place in society as against the whites. She knew the only way to grasp the attention of her readers was to enflame them in anger. When analyzing slavery...
In early nineteenth century there was the antislavery movement which was a failure. This people who were fighting for antislavery did not have a great support. They were nice gentle people who argued with an expression of moral disapproval but did not participate in an exert of activities. Organizations were formed to help support the freeing of slaves but these organizations did not have enough economical support to help with the thousands and thousands of slaves reproducing in America. They were able to free some slaves and tried returning some of them to their home lands in Africa but that was a failure because the amount of money need it to ship the Africans back to Africa was a high cost compared to the economical support that they had. There was even resistance from some Afr...
...racter and provoke questions as to the morality of slavery. She successfully does so by using profound references throughout the Bible and creating a sincere and very serious tone throughout the poem. Her agenda was very clear; she aimed to inform and to perhaps rid students of the sin of slavery. However, she mentions that it will be the student’s decision to either continue or put an end to this evil knowing the potential consequences afterlife. Most-importantly, Wheatley informs them that regardless of their decision to fight against or to continue the practice of slavery, their lives’ will be judged be it a “good or bad report of [them] to Heav’n” (23).
...Chrie, D., (ed.), Nineteenth Century Literature Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Company, 1986. Vo. 13, pp. 53-111.
Different moral grounds changed the conception of enslavement, especially in the 18th century in Europe. It was the Enlightenment. Even though most philosophers and writers did not agree on the subject of slavery, some raised their voices to denounce it. Indeed, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, in The Social
The issue of Slavery in the South was an unresolved issue in the United States during the seventeenth and eighteenth century. During these years, the south kept having slavery, even though most states had slavery abolished. Due to the fact that slaves were treated as inferior, they did not have the same rights and their chances of becoming an educated person were almost impossible. However, some information about slavery, from the slaves’ point of view, has been saved. In this essay, we are comparing two different books that show us what being a slave actually was. This will be seen with the help of two different characters: Linda Brent in Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl and Frederick Douglass in The Narrative of the life of Frederick
Abbey, Cherie D., ed. Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Vol. 14. Kansas City, MO: Gale Research, 1987.
Throughout the eighteenth century there were a lot of African American slaves and a problem with women’s rights. During that time there were people writing about literature and the society around them that related to slaves. There were a lot of people influenced on what was written during that time. Frances E. W. Harper was a American poet that was a free slave. Hse wrote about her views on the world. Analysis of Harpers life and poems will show how influenced she was through her writing.
Also known as the Second Great Awakening, the Abolitionist Movement swept through the colonies in the early 1830’s. This was a movement to abolish slavery and to give blacks their freedom as citizens. Many men and women, free and enslaved, fought for this cause and many were imprisoned or even killed for speaking out. If it were not for these brave people, slavery would still exist today. The Abolitionist Movement paved the way in eradicating slavery by pursuing moral and political avenues, providing the foundation for the Underground Railroad, and creating a voice for African Americans.
Lauter, Paul. The Heath Anthology of American Literature Fifth Edition Volume B Early Nineteenth Century: 1800-1865 2006
The concept of the slave trade came about in the 1430’s, when the Portuguese came to Africa in search of gold (not slaves). They traded copper ware, cloth, tools, wine, horses and later, guns and ammunition with African kingdoms in exchange for ivory, pepper, and gold (which were prized in Europe). There was not a very large demand for slaves in Europe, but the Portuguese realized that they could get a good profit from transporting slaves along the African coast from trading post to trading post. The slaves were bought greedily by Muslim merchants, who used them on the trans-Sahara trade routes and sold them in the Islamic Empire. The Portuguese continued to collect slaves from the whole west side of Africa, all the way down to the Cape of Good Hope (South Africa), and up the east side, traveling as far as Somalia. Along the way, Portugal established trade relations with many African kingdoms, which later helped begin the Atlantic Slave Trade. Because of Portugal’s good for...
Moulton, Charles Wells. Moulton's Library of Literary Criticism of English and American Authors through the Beginning of the Twentieth Century: Volume 1. New York: Frederick Ungar, 1966. Print.
Mullane, Janet & Wilson, Robert Thomas, Nineteenth-Century Literature Criticism. Detroit, MI: Gale Research Inc., 1988, Vol. 19, pp. 2, 4-8, 14, 17, 32, 42, 55-6, 58, and 66-7.