What was most interesting to me about these passages was the complete variance in sides during this time when it came to slavery. Further, I found the tones used by either side to discuss their opinions very interesting. They used ironies, compassion, sympathy, and unapologetic statement of facts to convey their opinion. Each side found themselves entirely rational in their beliefs, unwavering and right. Now, we can look back and see the holes in their arguments and see where their privilege as the ruling class comes into play.
One element in particular that I found interesting was the romantic love that was displayed in Mary Robinson’s “The African” (1798) and John Bicknell and Thomas Day’s “The Dying Negro, A Poem” (1775. These poets show stories of romantic love including these African people, they allow them to have the sense of humanity that is so often taken away from them. They are not barbaric, they are loving and capable of being loved in return. The Africans are humanized through their romantic love and when that love is stripped from them, we the reader, sympathize. In this, these poets create an argument for the abolition with the base of emotion, not fact. It is the emotion that makes their poetry so compelling.
Romanticism Blog 