The Negro's Complaint

"The Negro's Complaint" is a poem by William Cowper, which talks about slavery from the perspective of the slave. ^[1] It was written in 1788, ^{[2] [3]} and was intended to be sung to the tune of a popular ballad, "Admiral Hosier's Ghost". ^[4]

Text

"The Negro's Complaint" (1788)

Forc'd from home, and all its pleasures, Afric's coast I left forlorn; To increase a stranger's treasures, O'er the raging billows borne. Men from England bought and sold me, Paid my price in paltry gold; But, though theirs they have enroll'd me, Minds are never to be sold. Still in thought as free as ever, What are England's rights, I ask, Me from my delights to sever, Me to torture, me to task? Fleecy locks, and black complexion Cannot forfeit nature's claim; Skins may differ, but affection Dwells in white and black the same. Why did all creating Nature Make the plant for which we toil? Sighs must fan it, tears must water, Sweat of ours must dress the soil. Think, ye masters, iron-hearted, Lolling at your jovial boards; Think how many backs have smarted For the sweets your cane affords.

Is there, as ye sometimes tell us, Is there one who reigns on high? Has he bid you buy and sell us, Speaking from his throne the sky? Ask him, if your knotted scourges, Matches, blood-extorting screws, Are the means that duty urges Agents of his will to use? Hark! He answers!—Wild tornadoes, Strewing yonder sea with wrecks; Wasting towns, plantations, meadows, Are the voice with which he speaks. He, foreseeing what vexations Afric's sons should undergo, Fix'd their tyrants' habitations Where his whirlwinds answer—No. By our blood in Afric wasted Ere our necks received the chain; By the miseries that we tasted, Crossing in your barks the main; By our sufferings, since ye brought us To the man-degrading mart, All sustained by patience, taught us Only by a broken heart;

Deem our nation brutes no longer, Till some reason ye shall find Worthier of regard and stronger Than the colour of our kind. Slaves of gold, whose sordid dealings Tarnish all your boasted powers, Prove that you have human feelings, Ere you proudly question ours! [5]

References

1. "Historical Analysis". Marymount University. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
2. Fulford, Tim; Kitson, Peter J. "'Romanticism and colonialism: races, places, peoples, 1785-1800,' page 4 of 5". www.rc.umd.edu. Retrieved 14 February 2017.
3. Ingrassia, Catherine E.; Ravel, Jeffrey S. (4 May 2005). Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture. JHU Press. p. 107. ISBN   9780801881923 . Retrieved 14 February 2017.
4. Fairer, David; Gerrard, Christine (3 December 2014). Eighteenth-Century Poetry: An Annotated Anthology. John Wiley & Sons. p. 627. ISBN   9781118824757 . Retrieved 14 February 2017.
5. Cowper, William (1913). Milford, H. S. (ed.). The Complete Poetical Works. London: Oxford University Press. pp.  371–372.

External links

• The Negro's Complaint public domain audiobook at LibriVox (multiple versions)