Discussion Questions for Southey's Sonnets on the Slave Trade

1. Which part of the slave’s life does the poem represent?

2. Describe the poem structurally. What type of sonnet is it? How does the poem change on either side of the volta and end the concluding couplet (if it has one)?

3. What is the poem’s most significant formal feature? How does this feature affect your interpretation of the poem?

4. What kind of argument does the poem present against slavery? What is your reaction to that argument as a reader?

Poems on the Slave Trade - IV (Post by Chris Kotecki)

In the fourth sonnet of Robert Southey’s “Poems on the Slave Trade,” Southey depicts a much more emotional side of the slave. This particular sonnet, which takes on a rhyme scheme of ABBA CDDC EFEFEF, is much more personal than the others, as it describes the emotional toll that slavery has on a person and his or her loved ones. The poem is filled with strong, emotional words that evoke feelings of misery and depression. The words that Southey uses to describe the emotional suffering of the slave and his loved one are so deep that they seem to become physical, wearing their bodies down.

The poem begins by discussing the “mercenary tyrants” who are now asleep. As soon as they are asleep, the “wretched slave” wakes up to weep. The poem describes how the slave never once complained or showed any sort of despair “through the toil and anguish of the day.” He stayed strong throughout the day, most likely because he knew that showing signs of weakness during the day would not help him in any sort of way.

Yet once night came, he weeps, thinking of the woman he loves, as she “weeps for him who will return no more.” In a way, this shows his compassion and unselfishness, yet also his anguish. At a time when he needs rest more than anything, he finds that he cannot sleep, and instead is crying through the night. Yet he does not cry for himself and the physical pain that he has suffered throughout the day. Instead, he thinks about how the woman he loves has been left alone, knowing that she will never see him again.

The most intriguing aspect of Southey’s sonnet is the form that it takes. Each poem in his “Poems on the Slave Trade” has a different tone, rhyme scheme, and style, yet the fourth sonnet seems to differ the most. While the other poems are filled with more anger and pain, this poem is more emotional in the fact that it describes a relationship that has been broken up forever due to slavery. In order to further convey this message, Southey uses a of the Petrarchen sonnet. In the first two quatrains, Southey discusses he anguish that the slave has been holding in all day, and is finally able to let out at night. Initially, one assumes that he weeps for himself. He is in physical and emotional pain. Yet, at the end of the second quatrain is the volta, and the poem takes a different turn. Here, the reader realizes that the slave is actually weeping for his lover that he left alone.

A sonnet that is written in the Petrarchen form typically describes some sort of unattainable love, which is why Southey uses this style to write the poem. What could make love more unattainable than when the man is captured and forced into slavery? The slave is essentially helpless in this particular situation, and has come to terms with the fact that he will never see his lover again. Still though, it is his lover’s despair that he worries most about.

Poems on the Slave Trade- II (Robert Southey)

In the second part of Robert Southey’s “Poems on the Slave Trade”, he is describing the journey back on the slave ships. It is obvious by the first line that the slave is not happy and is fighting to prevent what is coming. However, it seems as if he is fighting for no reason—as if his words fall on deaf ears. While he is struggling to keep his freedom, it is doing him no good because there is no one there to help. Line 4 makes this seem as just another day by stating “The heavens all-favoring smile, the breeze is fair;” portraying the image that there is nothing special or unique about this day. Rather, he is just another slave and another slave ship in the British slave trade.

The sonnet continues on and the slave seems to have quieted down. While still enraged, he seems to be observing what is going on around him. Continuing from the fourth line, the crew seems quiet comfortable with this routine. Instead of being cautious or having feelings of guilt, it appears as if the crew is laughing and joking and carrying on as if nothing were happening. It is now that the slave realizes that there is no real point in crying or fighting. He has just become another part of the slave trade and nothing will change that. It still seems though, as if he is trying to hold out hope and is reaching out for his homeland. Lines 7 and 8 appear to be the slave asking himself why he is still trying to look out at the sea— home is only getting further and further away.

It seems as if the slave begins to fight an inner battle with himself, saying to “Go pine in want and anguish and despair” but that there will be no mercy from anyone. But he changes his mood, hoping that justice will prevail and carry this all way like the wind. It is by the “god of justice” that there will be “liberty and death the slave”, meaning that slavery will die and the emancipation of slaves will be granted.

Throughout the entire sonnet, Southey keeps a strong voice for the speaker. There is never a time when it seems as if the slave is torn down and vulnerable, rather he seems charged with emotion and anger towards what is happening to him. The sonnet carries a ‘ABBA CDDC EFEF GG’ rhyme scheme, but it is only the first eight lines that the rhymes really seem to stand out. The last six lines, while still rhyming, give the feeling that the slave has cooled down a little and is not as hostel as before. The emphasis on each word is not as strong in the last six lines, but it turns to the actual words that carrying the weight instead of the rhythm. By describing the “want and anguish and despair”, the reader is really being to see within the slave to the true feelings. This almost gives the feeling that the initial shock has worn off and he is finally internalizing the situation that is being flooded with all these new and unusual emotions. However, he is able to end it with a bit of hope and the feeling that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

Emanuela Kucik on Robert Southey's "Poems on the Slave Trade: VI"

Robert Southey "Poems on the Slave Trade"
Installment VI

In the sixth and final installment of his “Poems on the Slave Trade,” Robert Southey depicts the uncanny calm felt by a slave crucified by whites and left to be eaten alive. The sonnet begins with the declaration “high in the air exposed the slave is hung / To all the birds of Heaven, their living food,” thus revealing that the slave has been crucified. Since this poem follows the fifth installment of this sequence, in which the slave murders his master, we assume that crucifixion is the slave’s consequent punishment. However, although one would expect the slave to feel indignation at this punishment which is crueler even than the master he murdered, the slave does not emit a sound in protest. As Southey gives us a glimpse into the slave’s mind, we see that the condemned man realizes that he is going to Heaven to meet God. Furthermore, the slave believes that when he stands before God he will reveal the earthly atrocities of these whites who have condemned him so that they will end up much worse than him, for they will not be condemned before mere man, but condemned and damned before God.
In order to get the aforementioned message across, Southey uses the formal feature of switching perspectives in the poem, thus allowing us to truly understand what is occurring. In the first seven lines of the sonnet, the perspective is from the point of view of a third party, the point of view of an observer. This perspective allows us to see objectively what is happening. Through this perspective, we realize that a slave is being crucified and literally eaten alive; yet he is not complaining. However, in these first seven lines we do not yet know why the slave is not complaining and his calm seems entirely abnormal and even frustrating. At this point, we almost want the slave to cry out against his foes, to lash out in his own defense. However, we only see the scene from the point of view of the outsider and the outsider does not have access to the slave’s inner thoughts. Thus, Southey leaves us yearning to know why a slave who went from exacting vengeance on his master is now taking such an unjust punishment “groan[ing] not.”
However, Southey uses the last line of the octet and the entire sestet to give us a glimpse into the slave’s mind. When reading these last seven lines, I realized that they could also be seen as the opinion of the observer about why the slave is not protesting, or simply what the observer believes, or wants to believe, will happen after the slave dies. However, I read these lines as inside access to the slave’s mind. Yet, in order to do read these lines as such, I had to realize that Southey was employing yet another formal tactic for although these lines show the point of view of the slave, they are told from the perspective of a third party. I believe that writing the slave’s thoughts in the voice of what we assume is a white man reflects Southey’s intention to show that slaves did not have a voice, because the whites did not allow it. Thus, the slave’s inner thoughts can only be voiced through an apparent third party.
That said, these last seven lines show that the slave is not protesting because he knows that “beyond the grave / There is another world.” Through this shift in perspective, Southey allows us the gratification of seeing not only why the slave is not protesting, but that he believes he will be able to exact vengeance once he gets to Heaven, thus leading us to believe this as well. By ending the sonnet with the lines “that there the slave / Before the Eternal, “thunder-tongued shall plead /Against the deep damnation of your deed,” Southey makes the last line of the poem, and of the entire sequence, a condemnation of the white slave owners and the others who allowed such injustices as slavery and crucifixion to occur. Without this perspective shift, we would see the slave as so worn out that he just gives in to his own death. However, Southey uses this shift to show us that the slave was one step ahead of the whites, for he believed in a world after the world in which they reigned.

Martha Hanson's "How proudly Man usurps the power to reign", blogpost by Jacinda Evans

In Martha Hanson’s sonnet “How proudly Man usurps the power to reign”, she dwells on the topic of the dominance of men in the society. The sonnet has a rhyme scheme of ABBA CDDC AEEA FF. Although the rhyme scheme is extremely tricky, it is characterized as an Italian sonnet because of the end couplet. The rhyme scheme contributes to the poem a rhythm that helps the poem flow. The scheme is slightly hard to read because many words sound alike but don’t have the same endings, which makes it harder to see which words are actually meant to rhyme. But as the reader, if one reads the poem ALOUD it helps, and kind of determines what words are meant to rhyme. Hanson also includes capitalizations of certain words that she deems need to be focusing on for example the words Woman, Man, Female, Heaven. These words stand out in the reading and need to be emphasized based on their meaning in this poem. The word Woman is strong in this poem; it is used to stand for something positive although it seems to be looked down upon. Man on the other hand is a negative word in the poem.

In this sonnet, Hanson begins talking about how men tend to take advantage of a little power and how it was recognized all throughout the world. She lists these areas such as the “cold regions of the Northern Zone” and the area where the “South extend to its boundless main”. She then picks up with the fact that within all this vast area there is not a kingdom that endorses women to be boasted and treated as less than what they are, after they have claimed their freedom, and developed fearless souls. The following seven lines seem like a declarative statement.
Which Heaven impartial, gave all human kind,
Which soul too proud, to bear the servile chain,
Or to usurping Man, submissive bow,
Though poorest of the names, record can show,
Ages unborn, with wonder, shall proclaim
The pride of one unyielding Female thine,
Dear native England! And the name be mine.
In these seven lines Hanson acknowledges the fact that although God made male and female equal in His eyes, and to be the bearer of the same chain as a slave, or to even bow down submissively to a man, regardless of social status or age is not in her character. The last two lines is her saying that she is the woman that refuses to yield to the commands of a man.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s “No. IV. La Fayette”

Coleridge wrote a series of sonnets praising notable individuals from history. This particular sonnet features the Marquis de La Fayette, a noted French military leader. La Fayette actually gained fame fighting in the American Revolution. Back in France, he served as the Vice President French Estates-General, a meeting of three classes, the clergy, nobility and commoners, to discuss natural rights. The assembly drafted the “Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen,” a document similar to America’s Declaration of Independence, claiming equal rights for men.

The Sonnet itself follows the song of a bird, ostensibly hailing the new dawn of freedom. The bird’s song is heard from far off in the morning, and the caged bird that hears it in a distant land joins its song. Even without relation to the singing bird, the caged bird rejoices in the freedom of his fellow fowl. The speaker then addresses La Fayette, praising him for waking his own country from is “long wintry night,” supposedly of captivity, into a new day of freedom. The couplet relishes the new day as “slavery’s spectres shriek, and vanish from the ray!” So it appears that injustice has been eradicated with this new day of freedom, heralded by the distant bird.

The sonnet’s conceit is the extended metaphor that the bird’s song is freedom. This bird is a long way from the speaker, “as when far off.” The bird represents the success of the American Revolution. Its song is carried across the ocean to the imprisoned bird, France. The birds are not at all related, but they understand the tyranny and oppression of being caged, just as the French understood the tyranny that America experienced under the rule of King George. The caged bird is soothed, though, knowing that his counterpart in America has succeeded. He is given hope for his own plight against his cage.

The sonneteer relies heavily on morning imagery, demonstrating the dawn of a new era of freedom. The bird’s song soars “on morning wings,” “matin” means the early part of the day, bird does not bathe in “dewy light,” and the “morning struggles into day.” The sonnet takes place at the literal dawn of a new day. This bird wakes up refreshed at the news of freedom. The “rising radiance” refers to the new sun, and also to the rise of freedom, which brings cheer to all men. While the couplet maintains the sense of struggle between night and day, the darkness will “vanish from the ray,” the sonneteer gives every indication that the day will sin out.

The volta of the sonnet comes at the final couplet, which claims the victory of freedom for a group not already represented. The bird in the first quatrain is America, singing because of his own victory. The caged bird is France, singing in anticipation of his own victory. La Fayette, involved in both revolutions, claims the victory for his own land. Then the speaker makes reference to a group that did not actually gain freedom through either revolution, the slaves: “the morning struggles into day,/And slavery’s spectres shriek, and vanish from the ray!” It would be understandable to read “slavery’s spectres” as the ghost of all those who were imprisoned through political tyranny. So the statement is merely alliterative and poetically pleasing, not politically charged. However, if the idea of “slavery’s spectres” is taken literally, then the poet has claimed freedom for the slave. The American Revolution did not free the slaves – emancipation came almost 90 years later. And the Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen makes no mention of the rights of slaves. So the freedoms that have been granted have not been granted to slaves in either America or France. By claiming victory over “slavery’s spectres” in the couplet, the speaker changes the tone of the sonnet from celebratory to challenging. The fight for freedom is still a struggle because not all men have been made free.

Sarabeth Hogshire
“England in 1819”
By Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “England in 1819” is a commentary on the condition of the country at the time. Shelley makes it very clear that England is in shambles. The monarchy has become irresponsible and frivolous, the common people are suffering, the army is taking advantage of people, and religion is gone. Shelley expresses this view through his alteration of the poem’s form, as well as his division of the poem into several parts.
“England in 1819” does not follow the rhyme scheme of any typical form of the sonnet. Shelley’s poem has a unique rhyme scheme of abababcdcdccdd, while a typical petrarchan sonnet is abbaabbacdecde. I think that Shelley intentionally alters the form of the poem to reflect the chaos and disorder that is occurring in England at this time. This poem is just one example of how Shelley’s writing reflects his political views. It expresses how disillusioned he was with everything that was going on in England, and his alteration of the structure of the sonnet reinforces this view.
The rhyme scheme not only serves to reflect the condition of England, but it also breaks up the poem into several contextual parts. The first six lines (ababab) all discuss the rulers of the country and how they are irresponsible and are basically sucking the country dry. The next four lines (cdcdcc) tell about how people are dying, and an army that is supposed to be protecting them is taking advantage of its power, and how laws are being twisted to benefit those in the upper class. The last two lines express Shelley’s hope that one day all of these elements of the country that have gone into hibernation in a sense, will one day rise again to bring the country out of its current downward spiral.
These formal divisions of the poem also help reinforce the emotional curve of the poem. In the first twelve lines of the poem the tone is hopeless and sad. Shelley uses words like “dull,” “leech-like,” “dying,” and “starved.” All of these words indicate feelings of bleakness and despair. In the last two lines of the poem, Shelley changes his tone to one of hope. He uses phrases like “glorious Phantom,” and “illuminate,” which indicate a change in his tone from desolation to hope.
Shelley’s poem “England 1819” is a social commentary on the state of England. Shelley uses formal elements like the rhyme scheme and the emotional curve to reinforce his belief that England is in a slump, to say the least. Towards the end of his poem however, he does express faith in a “glorious Phantom” that will bring England out of its depression. This “glorious Phantom” is the spirit of revolution.