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    The Poetry Of Slavery
    The Poetry Of Slavery
    The Poetry Of Slavery
    Ebook115 pages1 hour

    The Poetry Of Slavery

    By Elizabeth Barrett Browning

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    About this ebook

    Mankind has many marks upon its name, many tragedies of its own making. The subjugating of other people, which still continues to this day, is perhaps its greatest stain. Men, women and children who are bought sold, used and abused for the profit or enjoyment of others casts shadows upon us all. In this collection poets of the calibre of Browning, Longfellow, Southey and Melville explore our relationship with this shaming, highlighting the successes and more probable failures of our fallible race.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCopyright Group
    Release dateJan 27, 2014
    ISBN9781783947867
    The Poetry Of Slavery

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      Book preview

      The Poetry Of Slavery - Elizabeth Barrett Browning

      The Poetry Of Slavery

      Mankind has many marks upon its name, many tragedies of its own making.  The subjugating of other people, which still continues to this day, is perhaps its greatest stain.   Men, women and children who are bought sold, used and abused for the profit or enjoyment of others casts shadows upon us all.  In this collection poets of the calibre of Browning, Longfellow, Southey and Melville explore our relationship with this shaming, highlighting the successes and more probable failures of our fallible race.

      Many of these poems have also been recorded for an audiobook. 

      Other volumes of poetry about slavery and abolition by such notables as John Greenleaf Whittier, Martin Farquhar Tupper and others are also available as are a wide range on other themes and poets at our imprints Deadtree Publishing & Portable Poetry. 

      Index Of Poems

      A Curse For A Nation by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

      The Economy Of Slavery by John Pierpont

      Abolition Of Slavery In The District Of Columbia, 1862 by John Greenleaf Whittier

      The Slave by Jose Maria de Heredia y Giraud

      The Fall Of Slavery by Marcus Mosiah Garvey

      Slavery by John Bowring

      The Slavery Of Greece by George Canning

      Slavery To The Slave by Timothy Thomas Fortune

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet I By Robert Southey

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet II by Robert Southey

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet III by Robert Southey

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet IV by Robert Southey

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet V by Robert Southey

      Poems On The Slave Trade – Sonnet VI by Robert Southey

      The Hunters Of Men by John Greenleaf Whittier

      The Slave Mother by Frances Ellen Watkins

      The Christian Slave by James Greenleaf Whittier

      The Dying Slave by William Lisle Bowles

      The Slave by Robert Anderson

      The Slave Auction by E W Harper

      The Slave Mother by E W Harper

      The Slave Trade, A Poem by Hannah More

      A Creole Slave Song (Ah, lo zo-zo chan' dan' branche) by Maurice Thompson

      The Slave’s Lament by Benjamin Cutler Clark

      The Slave Catcher by Benjamin Cutler Clark

      Negro Slave by Charles Dibdin

      The Slave holder’s Apology by Benjamin Cutler Clark

      What Is A Slave by Benjamin Cutler Clark

      The Death Of The Slave by Thomas Hill

      The Grave Of The Slave by Sarah Louisa Forten

      A Runaway Slave At Pilgrim’s Point by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

      The Slave In The Dismal Swamp by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

      The Slave Trade Merchant by Juan Francisco Manzano

      The Slave Girl’s Address To Her Mother by Sarah Louisa Forten

      The Slave Dealer by Thomas Pringle

      A Dozen Ballads About White Slavery II - The Factory Slave by Martin Farquhar Tupper

      The Sailor Who Had Served In The Slave Trade by Robert Southey

      The Slave’s Lament by Robert Burns

      Epistle Of Condolence From A Slave Lord To A Cotton Lord by Thomas Moore

      On Reading Mr Clarkson’s History Of The Abolition Of The Slave Trade by John Wilson

      Sweet Meat Has Sour Sauce; Or, The Slave-Trader In The Dumps by William Cowper

      Hymn For The First Of August by John Pierpoint

      Prayer Of The Abolitionist by John Pierpoint

      Prayer Of The Christian by John Pierpoint

      The Fugitive Slave’s Apostrophe To The North Star by John Pierpont

      Prayer For The Slave by John Pierpont

      A Dozen Ballads About White Slavery IV - The British Slave's Reply To A Political Economist  - Martin Farquhar Tupper

      On Liberty And Slavery by George Moses Horton

      Slavery by James Ephraim McGirt

      The Death Of Slavery by William Cullen Bryant

      The Slave’s Singing At Midnight by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

      Formerly A Slave by Herman Melville

      The Slave Ships by John Greenleaf Whittier

      The Slave’s Dream by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

      The Farewell of a Virginia Slave Mother by John Greenleaf Whittier

      A Curse For A Nation by Elizabeth Barrett Browning

      I heard an angel speak last night,

      And he said 'Write!

      Write a Nation's curse for me,

      And send it over the Western Sea.'

      I faltered, taking up the word:

      'Not so, my lord!

      If curses must be, choose another

      To send thy curse against my brother.

      'For I am bound by gratitude,

      By love and blood,

      To brothers of mine across the sea,

      Who stretch out kindly hands to me.'

      'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write

      My curse to-night.

      From the summits of love a curse is driven,

      As lightning is from the tops of heaven.'

      'Not so,' I answered. 'Evermore

      My heart is sore

      For my own land's sins: for little feet

      Of children bleeding along the street:

      'For parked-up honors that gainsay

      The right of way:

      For almsgiving through a door that is

      Not open enough for two friends to kiss:

      'For love of freedom which abates

      Beyond the Straits:

      For patriot virtue starved to vice on

      Self-praise, self-interest, and suspicion:

      'For an oligarchic parliament,

      And bribes well-meant.

      What curse to another land assign,

      When heavy-souled for the sins of mine?'

      'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write

      My curse to-night.

      Because thou hast strength to see and hate

      A foul thing done within thy gate.'

      'Not so,' I answered once again.

      'To curse, choose men.

      For I, a woman, have only known

      How the heart melts and the tears run down.'

      'Therefore,' the voice said, 'shalt thou write

      My curse to-night.

      Some women weep and curse, I say

      (And no one marvels), night and day.

      'And thou shalt take their part to-night,

      Weep and write.

      A curse from the depths of womanhood

      Is very salt, and bitter, and good.'

      So thus I wrote, and mourned indeed,

      What all may read.

      And thus, as was enjoined on me,

      I send it over the Western Sea.

      The Curse

      Because ye have broken your own chain

      With the strain

      Of brave men climbing a Nation's height,

      Yet thence bear down with brand and thong

      On souls of others, for this wrong

      This is the curse. Write.

      Because yourselves are standing straight

      In the state

      Of Freedom's foremost acolyte,

      Yet keep calm footing all the time

      On writhing bond-slaves, for this crime

      This is the curse. Write.

      Because ye prosper in God's name,

      With a claim

      To honor in the

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