The Slave Ship

Letitia Elizabeth Landon 1802 (Chelsea) – 1838 (Cape Coast)



No surge was on the sea,
No cloud was on the day,
When the ship spread her white wings,
Like a sea-bird on her way.

Ocean lay bright before,
The shore lay green behind,
And a breath of spice and balm
Came on the landward wind.

There rose a curse and wail.
As that vessel left the shore ;
And last looks sought their native land,
Which should dwell there no more !

Who seeing the fair ship
That swept through the bright waves.
Would dream that tyrants trod her deck,
And that her freight was slaves !

By day was heard the lash,
By night the heavy groan ;
For the slave's blood was on the chain
That festered to the bone !

Was one in that dark ship,
A prince in his own land ;
He scorned the chain, he scorned the threat
He scorned his fetter'd hand.

He called upon his tribe,
And said they might be free !
And his brow was cold and stern,
As he pointed to the sea.

Next night a sullen sound
Was heard amid the wave !
The tyrants sought their captives,—
They only found their grave.

“While at the anchorage at Zanzibar,” says a private letter from an officer of the Andromache, "a vessel or two arrived, with at least from 150 to 200 slaves each on board ; which vessels were, in fact, (had any idea of humanity or kindness prevailed among the dealers,) incapabie of containing more than 20 or 25 persons. The wretched cargoes were literally stowed in bulk*; all sexes and ages wedged together at the bottom of the vessel, and their feet only kept from the water occasioned by the usual leakage, by a cargo of rhinoceros’ hides and horns, gums of several kinds, (particularly copal,) and elephants' teeth.”

* Stowed in bulk is a nautical phrase for any thing closely packed, without separation ;— a barrel of herrings , will convey the best idea of an Arab slave-vessel ; and, indeed, of some of the smaller French traders formerly engaged in this traffic about Mauritius and Bourbon.
Font size:
Collection  PDF     
 

Submitted by Madeleine Quinn on October 28, 2016

Modified on March 06, 2023

1:45 min read
121

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABXB CDXD XCEC FGXG XHXH FEXE XAXA XIXI X X
Closest metre Iambic heptameter
Characters 1,897
Words 348
Stanzas 10
Stanza Lengths 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 4, 1, 1

Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Letitia Elizabeth Landon was an English poet. Born 14th August 1802 at 25 Hans Place, Chelsea, she lived through the most productive period of her life nearby, at No.22. A precocious child with a natural gift for poetry, she was driven by the financial needs of her family to become a professional writer and thus a target for malicious gossip (although her three children by William Jerdan were successfully hidden from the public). In 1838, she married George Maclean, governor of Cape Coast Castle on the Gold Coast, whence she travelled, only to die a few months later (15th October) of a fatal heart condition. Behind her post-Romantic style of sentimentality lie preoccupations with art, decay and loss that give her poetry its characteristic intensity and in this vein she attempted to reinterpret some of the great male texts from a woman’s perspective. Her originality rapidly led to her being one of the most read authors of her day and her influence, commencing with Tennyson in England and Poe in America, was long-lasting. However, Victorian attitudes led to her poetry being misrepresented and she became excluded from the canon of English literature, where she belongs. more…

All Letitia Elizabeth Landon poems | Letitia Elizabeth Landon Books

3 fans

Discuss the poem The Slave Ship with the community...

0 Comments

    Translation

    Find a translation for this poem in other languages:

    Select another language:

    • - Select -
    • 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
    • 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
    • Español (Spanish)
    • Esperanto (Esperanto)
    • 日本語 (Japanese)
    • Português (Portuguese)
    • Deutsch (German)
    • العربية (Arabic)
    • Français (French)
    • Русский (Russian)
    • ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
    • 한국어 (Korean)
    • עברית (Hebrew)
    • Gaeilge (Irish)
    • Українська (Ukrainian)
    • اردو (Urdu)
    • Magyar (Hungarian)
    • मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
    • Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Italiano (Italian)
    • தமிழ் (Tamil)
    • Türkçe (Turkish)
    • తెలుగు (Telugu)
    • ภาษาไทย (Thai)
    • Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
    • Čeština (Czech)
    • Polski (Polish)
    • Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
    • Românește (Romanian)
    • Nederlands (Dutch)
    • Ελληνικά (Greek)
    • Latinum (Latin)
    • Svenska (Swedish)
    • Dansk (Danish)
    • Suomi (Finnish)
    • فارسی (Persian)
    • ייִדיש (Yiddish)
    • հայերեն (Armenian)
    • Norsk (Norwegian)
    • English (English)

    Citation

    Use the citation below to add this poem to your bibliography:

    Style:MLAChicagoAPA

    "The Slave Ship" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem/45214/the-slave-ship>.

    Become a member!

    Join our community of poets and poetry lovers to share your work and offer feedback and encouragement to writers all over the world!

    More poems by

    Letitia Elizabeth Landon

    »

    March 2024

    Poetry Contest

    Join our monthly contest for an opportunity to win cash prizes and attain global acclaim for your talent.
    2
    days
    15
    hours
    44
    minutes

    Special Program

    Earn Rewards!

    Unlock exciting rewards such as a free mug and free contest pass by commenting on fellow members' poems today!

    Browse Poetry.com

    Quiz

    Are you a poetry master?

    »
    Who wrote the poem 'My Shadow'?
    A Edgar Allan Poe
    B Robert Louis Stevenson
    C Maya Angelou
    D Sylvia Plath