"He [the slave] feels his body's bondage in his mind, / Puts off his generous nature, and, to suit / His manners with his fate, puts on the brute."
— Cowper, William (1731-1800)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
Joseph Johnson
Date
1782
Metaphor
"He [the slave] feels his body's bondage in his mind, / Puts off his generous nature, and, to suit / His manners with his fate, puts on the brute."
Metaphor in Context
Heaven speed the canvass gallantly unfurl'd
To furnish and accommodate a world,
To give the pole the produce of the sun,
And knit the unsocial climates into one!--
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave
Impel the fleet whose errand is to save,
To succour wasted regions, and replace
The smile of opulence in sorrow's face!--
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark that ploughs the deep serene,
Charged with a freight transcending in its worth
The gems of India, nature's rarest birth,
That flies, like Gabriel on his Lord's commands,
A herald of God's love to pagan lands!--
But, ah! what wish can prosper, or what prayer,
For merchants rich in cargoes of despair,
Who drive a loathsome traffic, gauge and span
And buy the muscles and the bones of man?
The tender ties of father, husband, friend,
All bonds of nature in that moment end,
And each endures, while yet he draws his breath,
A stroke as fatal as the scythe of death.
The sable warrior, frantic with regret
Of her he loves and never can forget,
Loses in tears the far receding shore,
But not the thought that they must meet no more;
Deprived of her and freedom at a blow,
What has he left that he can yet forego?
Yes, to deep sadness sullenly resign'd,
He feels his body's bondage in his mind,
Puts off his generous nature, and, to suit
His manners with his fate, puts on the brute.
(ll. 123-54, pp. 340-1)
To furnish and accommodate a world,
To give the pole the produce of the sun,
And knit the unsocial climates into one!--
Soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave
Impel the fleet whose errand is to save,
To succour wasted regions, and replace
The smile of opulence in sorrow's face!--
Let nothing adverse, nothing unforeseen,
Impede the bark that ploughs the deep serene,
Charged with a freight transcending in its worth
The gems of India, nature's rarest birth,
That flies, like Gabriel on his Lord's commands,
A herald of God's love to pagan lands!--
But, ah! what wish can prosper, or what prayer,
For merchants rich in cargoes of despair,
Who drive a loathsome traffic, gauge and span
And buy the muscles and the bones of man?
The tender ties of father, husband, friend,
All bonds of nature in that moment end,
And each endures, while yet he draws his breath,
A stroke as fatal as the scythe of death.
The sable warrior, frantic with regret
Of her he loves and never can forget,
Loses in tears the far receding shore,
But not the thought that they must meet no more;
Deprived of her and freedom at a blow,
What has he left that he can yet forego?
Yes, to deep sadness sullenly resign'd,
He feels his body's bondage in his mind,
Puts off his generous nature, and, to suit
His manners with his fate, puts on the brute.
(ll. 123-54, pp. 340-1)
Categories
Provenance
Searching in HDIS (Poetry); found again reading David Brion Davis, The Problem of Slavery in the Age of Revolution, 1770-1823 (New York and Oxford: Oxford UP, 1999), 369.
Citation
At least 23 entries in ECCO and ESTC (1782, 1786, 1787, 1788, 1790, 1792, 1793, 1794, 1797, 1798, 1800, 1799, 1800).
See Poems by William Cowper (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1782). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO-TCP><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Works of William Cowper (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1835-1837).
Reading The Poems of William Cowper, 3 vols. ed. John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (Oxford: Oxford UP: 1980), I, pp. 337-353.
See Poems by William Cowper (London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1782). <Link to ESTC> <Link to ECCO-TCP><Link to Google Books>
Text from The Works of William Cowper (London: Baldwin and Cradock, 1835-1837).
Reading The Poems of William Cowper, 3 vols. ed. John D. Baird and Charles Ryskamp (Oxford: Oxford UP: 1980), I, pp. 337-353.
Date of Entry
12/16/2003
Date of Review
01/10/2012
