The [Slave's] Complaint*

[written to be sung to the popular ballad, Admiral Hosier's Ghost] 

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. 

Frederic Shoberl, 1821 (depicting Virginia, USA)

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.**

— William Cowper, 1877; Stanzas 1-5 [English poet, hymnwriter & abolitionist; friend of John Newton, author if "Amazing Grance"] 

Footnotes by Blog Author

 *The original title of this poem was "The Negro's Complaint." This archaic term was not intended to offend; it was the term used at the time. As you can see, Cowper took the heart and soul of the Black man very seriously. 

**Fierce weather in the Caribbean, where many English slaves were sent More information on Cowper (pronounced "Cooper") Biographical Info and Quotes of William Cowper

***Sugar cane in the Caribbean

  William Cowper was a close friend and associate of John Newton, author of the hymn "Amazing Grace."  He was also one of writer Jane Austen's and abolitionist William Wilberforce's favorite poets.  In modern times, we might think of this poem as taking the voice of others from them.  In Cowper's day, it was very hard for Black people to really be heard in English speaking countries.

    Cowper was born on 26 November 1731 in Hertfordshire, England.  [This was an adjusted date, as was George Washington's birthday, as the calendar required some revision in their lifetimes.]  His mother died in childbirth with a younger brother when William was weeks shy of turning six.  The servants, thinking to spare him, continuously made up stories about his mother "travelling" for quite some time, hoping to spare a child who already seemed sensitive.  His natural temperament, the death, and the late discovery of his mother's death probably all contributed to the extremely serious depression with which Cowper coped his entire life.

     Cowper's depression lead to despair and suicidal thinking at times. This was in an era before psychotropic medications or therapeutic interventions. The bouts of depression were recurrent and so severe that Cowper could not functionally develop a career.  He functionally relied on others' kindness and a quiet life in the country to pull through.  Sometimes friends, including Newton, said with Cowper through day and night as a suicide prevention watch.  One of his good friends and supporters, a married woman of means, encouraged Cowper to write to help get him through his bouts of depression.  Despite his serious condition, he had the courage to step forward as an early abolitionist, opposing slavery, and became an associate of William Wilberforce, the great but tortured English abolitionist orator.

    John Newton came to be an associate of Cowper's in Olney, a village a ways northwest of London. They had almost opposite temperaments, with Newton being rather brash.  Yet they fiercely defended each other as friends.  Together, they wrote and complied their Olney Hymns. Though Newton is better known in America for "Amazing Grace", Olney's work is better known in England. 

     Although I cannot find information to correlate this, I believe Cowper's views on abolition influenced Newton to become an abolitionist [along with the Holy Spirit's quiet moving]. Although the Amazing Grace movie (2006) and other compressed accounts make it seem that Newton became an abolitionist shortly after his father arranged for his freedom from slavery to a Black African noble woman, In 1748, on his return trip home, he did have a conversion or reconversion to Christianity. But he continued working on a slave ship, though he now had more sympathy for the slaves after his experiences.  He eventually obtained a shore job in this line of endeavor and began studying subjects related to Anglican priesthood. In 1764, Newton became a priest.  In 1767, Cowper moved to Olney. Newtong helped William Wilberforce, who was a parishioner, though a crisis of faith. In 1788, Newton finally released a pamphlet on abolition. This was 34 years after his own release from slavery.   

Light Shining Out of Darkness (with biographical notes)

This Blog: Quotable Cowper

The Fountain in Its Source: translation from French by Cowper