Subject: ENG2603
Student: Elzaan Venter
Student No: 62913190
Assignment 01
Contact details: +27 788047813
Email:
, The slave dealer by Thomas Pringle
We will look at the poem, “The slave dealer” written by Thomas Pringle. I will
give a brief description of the poet and then analyse the poem and reveal the
slave dealer’s torment and turmoil, as well as indicating whether the religion of
Christianity is depicted in the poem as supportive of slavery.
The poet Thomas Pringle was born on the 5th of January 1789 in Roxburghshire
Scotland. He was known as the father of South African poetry. He immigrated
to South Africa with his family in 1820 but did not make it as a writer after 6
years in South Africa, after which he moved to London where he worked for
the abolition of slavery. He died on the 4th of December 1834 in London when
he was only 45 years old. (SA History. 2017).
Thomas Pringle’s poem highlights slavery and the slave trader who is actually
“The slave dealer”. When reading the title, which has a straightforward
meaning, the slave dealer is a person who dealt in the sale of people from
poverty-stricken backgrounds to people of higher standings. Slavery was
something that happened all around the world and the slave dealers are the
ones who transported the slaves forcibly away from their families to other
countries and continents. They were also responsible for the deaths of many
slaves. Pringle is described as “colonial”, because in his case he wrote at the
turn of the 20th century during the British reign which over time became
known as the Republic of South Africa (Dr. S.Dambe et. al.2013).
The poem has 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The poem has a rhyme scheme of
ABABAB; CDCDCD; EFEFEF; GHGHGH; etc. The layout and rhyme of the poem
are an important part of “The slave dealer” and highlights certain emotional
aspects of the poem. (Dr. S Dambe et. al.2013).
The first stanza line 1-2, “From oceans wave a Wanderer came, with visage
tanned and dun”, the speaker is calling the slave dealer a ‘wanderer’, in other
words a traveller who has come from sailing the oceans. He appears tanned by
the sun while wind and other elements made his skin like leather, tough and
wrinkled, by his job and by his many travels. “His mother when he told his
name, scarce knew her long lost son”, Tells us that his mother did not know or
recognise him, he probably had left the house at an incredibly young age and
only when he mentioned his name his mother recognised and remembered
him. He is a grown man now. It also shows by the words, ‘Long lost son’ that he
Student: Elzaan Venter
Student No: 62913190
Assignment 01
Contact details: +27 788047813
Email:
, The slave dealer by Thomas Pringle
We will look at the poem, “The slave dealer” written by Thomas Pringle. I will
give a brief description of the poet and then analyse the poem and reveal the
slave dealer’s torment and turmoil, as well as indicating whether the religion of
Christianity is depicted in the poem as supportive of slavery.
The poet Thomas Pringle was born on the 5th of January 1789 in Roxburghshire
Scotland. He was known as the father of South African poetry. He immigrated
to South Africa with his family in 1820 but did not make it as a writer after 6
years in South Africa, after which he moved to London where he worked for
the abolition of slavery. He died on the 4th of December 1834 in London when
he was only 45 years old. (SA History. 2017).
Thomas Pringle’s poem highlights slavery and the slave trader who is actually
“The slave dealer”. When reading the title, which has a straightforward
meaning, the slave dealer is a person who dealt in the sale of people from
poverty-stricken backgrounds to people of higher standings. Slavery was
something that happened all around the world and the slave dealers are the
ones who transported the slaves forcibly away from their families to other
countries and continents. They were also responsible for the deaths of many
slaves. Pringle is described as “colonial”, because in his case he wrote at the
turn of the 20th century during the British reign which over time became
known as the Republic of South Africa (Dr. S.Dambe et. al.2013).
The poem has 8 stanzas of 6 lines each. The poem has a rhyme scheme of
ABABAB; CDCDCD; EFEFEF; GHGHGH; etc. The layout and rhyme of the poem
are an important part of “The slave dealer” and highlights certain emotional
aspects of the poem. (Dr. S Dambe et. al.2013).
The first stanza line 1-2, “From oceans wave a Wanderer came, with visage
tanned and dun”, the speaker is calling the slave dealer a ‘wanderer’, in other
words a traveller who has come from sailing the oceans. He appears tanned by
the sun while wind and other elements made his skin like leather, tough and
wrinkled, by his job and by his many travels. “His mother when he told his
name, scarce knew her long lost son”, Tells us that his mother did not know or
recognise him, he probably had left the house at an incredibly young age and
only when he mentioned his name his mother recognised and remembered
him. He is a grown man now. It also shows by the words, ‘Long lost son’ that he
