FRINK Linked Data Fragments server

Matches in SemOpenAlex for { <https://semopenalex.org/work/W2037840217> ?p ?o ?g. }

• W2037840217 endingPage "195" @default.
• W2037840217 startingPage "183" @default.
• W2037840217 abstract "“Mild, Melancholy and Sedate He Stands”:Melancholy in the British Poetry of Slavery Damian Shaw (bio) Thomas Pringle (1789–1834) was secretary of the Anti-Slavery Society from 1827 to 1834. It was in 1827 that a trio of his sonnets first appeared in George Thompson’s Travels and Adventures in Southern Africa, which Pringle edited, entitled “The Bushman,’ “The Caffer,” and “The Hottentot.”1 The “Bushman,” who is besieged and shot by “Christian-Men,” leaves his sons “a curse, should they be friends / With the proud Christian race—‘for they are fiends!’“ (3–14). The “Caffer” is a warrior, with “free-born pride” (5), who “burnishes for war / His assegai and targe of buffalo-hide” (7–8) in preparation for conflict against the colonists, or a “white-skinned bandit” (10). Both of these characters are not enslaved and show resistance to the Christian colonists, although that of the “Bushman” is merely a curse. The “Hottentot,” however, is emblematic of a slave: The HottentotMild, melancholy, and sedate, he standsTending another’s flock upon the fields,His father’s once, where now the White Man buildsHis home, and issues forth his proud commands.His dark eye flashes not; his listless handsSupport the boor’s huge firelock; but the shieldsAnd quivers of his race are gone: he yieldsSubmissively his freedom and his lands.Has he no courage? Once he had—but lo! [End Page 183] Harsh Servitude hath worn him to the bone.No enterprise? Alas! The brand, the blow,Have humbled him to dust—even hope is gone!“He’s a base-hearted hound—not worth his food”—His Master cries—”he has no gratitudel” According to this text, colonial depredation and slavery have degraded the “Hottentot,” in the course of one generation, to the point of extreme passivity and despair. He could, of course, turn the boor’s own firelock against his master, a weapon significantly more powerful than the bows and arrows of his forefathers.2 Pringle was aware of this possibility. In a published letter on slavery in 1826, Pringle acknowledges that “hatred and revenge on the part of the slave” are “generally the result of this unnatural relationship,” yet “The Hottentot’s” mildness and listlessness in this poem are clearly at odds with what Pringle acknowledges to be generally the case.3 In Anne Anlin Cheng’s terms, the melancholic subject here is clearly a “subject of grief” rather than a “subject of grievance” (though he could be the latter)—the subject as portrayed here suffers rather than speaks out.4 The affect of melancholy in this case is portrayed as mildness and despair, and there is no strategy of resistance present, from suicide to revolt, only submission: even “his dark eye flashes not,” rendering the possible call for an understanding of alterity in the “Hottentot’s” gaze superfluous. This depiction is in line with Pringle’s general philosophy that slavery degrades the slave as much as the master, but it prompted me to start questioning the role of melancholy in the poetry of slavery. This turned out to be a huge question to answer, as there were literally hundreds of thousands of poems published about slavery in eighteenth-and nineteenth-century Britain and America. I have limited my inquiry here to British poetry, as there are substantial differences between the productions of the two nations. My inquiry was guided by the most comprehensive anthology of slavery poetry published to date, namely Marcus Wood’s excellent The Poetry of Slavery: An Anglo-American Anthology, 1764–1865 (2003), as well as Bonnie Barton’s anthology The Bow in the Cloud (1834) and Joan Sherman’s Invisible Poets (1974), which form a representative database of about thirteen hundred pages.5 I undertook the survey in order to be able to make some generalizations about the topic of melancholy in slavery poetry. I will be making generalizations, but note [End Page 184] that each poem one encounters, including the most trite, if considered as a text for in-depth analysis, often shows itself to be fractured, inconsistent, and so on, and there are always exceptions to the broad generalizations. Before I commence a summary..." @default.
• W2037840217 created "2016-06-24" @default.
• W2037840217 creator A5014631186 @default.
• W2037840217 date "2014-01-01" @default.
• W2037840217 modified "2023-10-17" @default.
• W2037840217 title "“Mild, Melancholy and Sedate He Stands”: Melancholy in the British Poetry of Slavery" @default.
• W2037840217 cites W1508961462 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W1568449311 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W1736309286 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W2582985779 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W3020867381 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W638235921 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W649977630 @default.
• W2037840217 cites W651772513 @default.
• W2037840217 doi "https://doi.org/10.1353/jlt.2014.0013" @default.
• W2037840217 hasPublicationYear "2014" @default.
• W2037840217 type Work @default.
• W2037840217 sameAs 2037840217 @default.
• W2037840217 citedByCount "0" @default.
• W2037840217 crossrefType "journal-article" @default.
• W2037840217 hasAuthorship W2037840217A5014631186 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C104317684 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C107993555 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C124952713 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C138885662 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C142362112 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C144024400 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C162462552 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C164913051 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C185592680 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C18903297 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C24667770 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C27206212 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C2776911728 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C2779728303 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C2780273121 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C38721330 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C42133412 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C52119013 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C55493867 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C56273599 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C57473165 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C67101536 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C76509639 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C86803240 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConcept C95457728 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C104317684 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C107993555 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C124952713 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C138885662 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C142362112 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C144024400 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C162462552 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C164913051 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C185592680 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C18903297 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C24667770 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C27206212 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C2776911728 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C2779728303 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C2780273121 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C38721330 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C42133412 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C52119013 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C55493867 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C56273599 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C57473165 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C67101536 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C76509639 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C86803240 @default.
• W2037840217 hasConceptScore W2037840217C95457728 @default.
• W2037840217 hasIssue "1-2" @default.
• W2037840217 hasLocation W20378402171 @default.
• W2037840217 hasOpenAccess W2037840217 @default.
• W2037840217 hasPrimaryLocation W20378402171 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W172245026 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W1966605252 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W2037840217 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W2354075462 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W2748952813 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W2811026289 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W3184436561 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W4298506689 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W598213200 @default.
• W2037840217 hasRelatedWork W658356385 @default.
• W2037840217 hasVolume "2" @default.
• W2037840217 isParatext "false" @default.
• W2037840217 isRetracted "false" @default.
• W2037840217 magId "2037840217" @default.
• W2037840217 workType "article" @default.