Poems On The Slave Trade - Sonnet IV

Robert Southey 1774 (Bristol) – 1843 (London)



'Tis night; the mercenary tyrants sleep
 As undisturb'd as Justice! but no more
 The wretched Slave, as on his native shore,
Rests on his reedy couch: he wakes to weep!
Tho' thro' the toil and anguish of the day
 No tear escap'd him, not one suffering groan
 Beneath the twisted thong, he weeps alone
In bitterness; thinking that far away
Tho' the gay negroes join the midnight song,
 Tho' merriment resounds on Niger's shore,
She whom he loves far from the chearful throng
 Stands sad, and gazes from her lowly door
With dim grown eye, silent and woe-begone,
 And weeps for him who will return no more.

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Submitted on May 13, 2011

Modified on March 05, 2023

33 sec read
82

Quick analysis:

Scheme ABBACDDCEBEBDB
Closest metre Iambic pentameter
Characters 598
Words 109
Stanzas 1
Stanza Lengths 14

Robert Southey

Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called "Lake Poets", and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 to his death in 1843. more…

All Robert Southey poems | Robert Southey Books

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