"The outrag'd Goddess with abhorrent eyes / Sees MAN the traffic, SOULS the merchandize!"
— More, Hannah (1745-1833)
Author
Work Title
Place of Publication
London
Publisher
T. Cadell
Date
1788
Metaphor
"The outrag'd Goddess with abhorrent eyes / Sees MAN the traffic, SOULS the merchandize!"
Metaphor in Context
What wrongs, what injuries does Opression plead
To smooth the horror of th' unnatural deed?
What strange offence, what aggravated sin?
They stand convicted--of a darker skin!
Barbarians, hold! th' opprobious commerce spare,
Respect his sacred image which they bear:
Tho' dark and savage, ignorant and blind,
They claim the common privilege of kind;
Let Malice strip them of each other plea,
They still are men, and men shou'd still be free.
Insulted Reason, loaths th' inverted trade--
Dire change! the agent is the purchase made!
Perplex'd, the baffled Muse involves the tale;
Nature confounded, well may language fail!
The outrag'd Goddess with abhorrent eyes
Sees MAN the traffic, SOULS the merchandize!
(ll. 131-146. p. 105 in Wood)
To smooth the horror of th' unnatural deed?
What strange offence, what aggravated sin?
They stand convicted--of a darker skin!
Barbarians, hold! th' opprobious commerce spare,
Respect his sacred image which they bear:
Tho' dark and savage, ignorant and blind,
They claim the common privilege of kind;
Let Malice strip them of each other plea,
They still are men, and men shou'd still be free.
Insulted Reason, loaths th' inverted trade--
Dire change! the agent is the purchase made!
Perplex'd, the baffled Muse involves the tale;
Nature confounded, well may language fail!
The outrag'd Goddess with abhorrent eyes
Sees MAN the traffic, SOULS the merchandize!
(ll. 131-146. p. 105 in Wood)
Categories
Provenance
Reading
Citation
3 entries in ESTC (1788). Text from Brycchan Carey's electronic edition <Link>
See also Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More (London: T. Cadell, 1788). <Link to ECCO>.
Collected in Marcus Wood's The Poetry of Slavery (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003). Excerpted in Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford UP, 1989).
See also Slavery, a Poem. By Hannah More (London: T. Cadell, 1788). <Link to ECCO>.
Collected in Marcus Wood's The Poetry of Slavery (Oxford: Oxford UP, 2003). Excerpted in Roger Lonsdale's Eighteenth Century Women Poets (Oxford UP, 1989).
Date of Entry
08/14/2012
