British Abolitionism in Hannah More's 'Slavery, A Poem'

Seminar paper from the year 2012 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Literature, grade: 2,0, University of Potsdam, language: English, abstract: In the following, the author wants to explore in what way the poem 'Slavery, A Poem' by Hannah More serves abolitionist means. A quote of Hannah More (1745 - 1833) in a letter to her sister states: 'I grieve I did not set about it sooner; as it must now be done in such a hurry... but, good or bad, if it does not come out at the particular moment when the discussion comes on in Parliament, it will not be worth a straw.' (Feldman, 1997, p. 470) This statement is referring to her poem 'Slavery, A Poem.' that she wrote in 1788. Reading this quotation one can act on the assumption that the poem and its time of publication served a specific purpose. Knowing that Hannah More was an active member of the British abolitionism and knowing that she wrote the poem for this very reason; we can come to the following study question: In what way is the typical British abolitionism represented in Hannah Mores poem?