1
The slave dealer - Thomas Pringle
From ocean's wave a Wanderer came,
With visage tanned and dun:
His Mother, when he told his name,
Scarce knew her long-lost son;
So altered was his face and frame 5
By the ill course he had run.
There was hot fever in his blood,
And dark thoughts in his brain;
And oh! to turn his heart to good
That Mother strove in vain, 10
For fierce and fearful was his mood,
Racked by remorse and pain.
And if, at times, a gleam more mild
Would o'er his features stray,
When knelt the Widow near her Child, 15
And he tried with her to pray,
It lasted not - for visions wild
Still scared good thoughts away.
‘There's blood upon my hands!’ he said,
‘Which water cannot wash; 20
It was not shed where warriors bled -
It dropped from the gory lash,
As I whirled it o'er and o'er my head,
And with each stroke left a gash.
‘With every stroke I left a gash, 25
While Negro blood sprang high;
And now all ocean cannot wash
My soul from murder's dye;
Nor e'en thy prayer, dear Mother, quash
That Woman's wild death-cry! 30
‘Her cry is ever in my ear,
And it will not let me pray;
Her look I see - her voice I hear -
As when in death she lay,
And said, “With me thou must appear 35
On God's great Judgment-day!”’
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
‘Now, Christ from frenzy keep my son!’
The woeful Widow cried;
‘Such murder foul thou ne'er hast done -
Some fiend thy soul belied!’ - 40
‘- Nay, Mother! the Avenging One
Was witness when she died!
‘The writhing wretch with furious heel
I crushed - no mortal nigh;
But that same hour her dread appeal 45
Was registered on high;
And now with God I have to deal,
And dare not meet His eye!’ Type and Form
This poem is a ballad which retells a
Summary story of a son who returns home to his
The speaker highlights the subject of slavery from a mother after being away for a long-time
slave dealer’s point of view. The slave dealer is a doing slave trade. The poem has 8
person who deals with the sale of people from poor stanzas of 6 lines each. Each stanza has
to upper-class backgrounds and forcefully remove its own rhyme scheme.
and transport these people from their families to
other countries or continents
Type and Structure
• It is a ballad.
Tone and Mood
• It tells a dramatic,
The tone is remorseful as the speaker regrets his emotionally charged story.
misdeeds. The mood is sombre/sad/ angry: The • Each stanza consists of
three sets of rhyming
speaker’s mood is sombre as he experiences the agony
couplets and its regular
of being haunted by dreadful memories of what he has
rhythm gives it a songlike
done in the past. and then the harsh (silent) r sound
quality.
shows how these thoughts rip him apart. • The poem is divided into 8
stanzas of six lines each.
• Each stanza has three sets
of rhyming couplets; a set
rhyme scheme is followed
ABABAB /CDCDCD
/EFEFEF/etc., right to the
end.
• It is written in Iambic
pentameter.
• The poem is related from the
third person’s point of view.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 3
TITLE:
• The title, ‘The slave dealer’
introduces the subject matter of the
poem, it deals with slavery and its
negative effects.
• Slave dealers were responsible for
the death of many slaves.
• The slave dealer in this poem is
presented as a man who is plagued
by a guilty conscience and who
believes himself to be doomed,
because of his evil, destructive
actions.
Themes
Torment
Remorsefulness
Slavery
The speaker reveals the slave dealer’s
The speaker expresses the slave
torment and anguish, turmoil and The horror of slavery is told through the
dealer’s most inner feelings through
sadness through the emotive language personal experiences of the speaker
stanza 4:‘There’s blood upon my
that is evident throughout the poem. The who is a slave dealer. The slave dealer,
hands!.......’ This idiom is about being
poem tells us that the slave dealer is ‘Wanderer’, is the one who transported
responsible for someone’s death. He is
haunted by the deeds he committed slaves forcefully from their families and
remorseful for killing people and taking
when he was involved in the slave trade loved ones.
what is not his.
business.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 4
Stanza 1 Line 1: ‘Wanderer’ serves as a name as it is written with a
capital letter, it will be the only name attributed to the
Metaphor
long-lost son/slave dealer
Line 3: , ‘Mother’ is written with a capital letter – it serves ‘From oceans wave a wanderer came,/With
as a title/name. No specific name is given to her. She visage tanned and dun’ The slave dealer is
represents all the mothers who disapproved of the slave- compared to a normal traveller who has a
His mother does not trading and their sons’ involvement in it. All the mothers deeply tanned face because he has been out in
recognise him (lines 3-4) could do, however, was wait for the time that their sons the sun for a long time.
because of the evil path he would realise the sinful cruelty of their actions and
had chosen, and the hopefully stopped their involvement in the slave-trade.
harshness of the sun has In lines 1-2 the slave dealer is compared to a
altered his outward traveller whose face has tanned to a brownish
appearance. She does not colour because he has been spending a lot of
recognise him, until he tells time in the sun.
her his name. The ‘long –
lost’ suggests that she has
last seen him a long time
ago.
The word ‘Wanderer’ refers to
‘long-lost son’ reminds one of
Line 2: The use of the colon (:) somebody who travels about
the prodigal son’s (parable in
shows that an explanation will aimlessly. Since the person was
Line 2: There is irony to be found the Bible) return home to find
follow. The effect of this focused on making money by
in the fact that his complexion comfort and a sense of
changed appearance will be buying and selling slaves, there
had darkened. He was white and belonging with his father. His
explained was nothing aimless about his
targeted the Black South mother, like the prodigal son’s
activities. The term might,
Africans. His skin colour has Line 4: The use of the semi-colon father, accepts him whole-
however, refer to the sense of loss
become similar to those he (;) creates a longer pause – the heartedly without blaming him
that he feels in his heart and mind
tortured and enslaved. speaker (third person) will give a or telling him off.
at this stage – a more metaphorical
Metaphorically, he is now the detailed explanation of why his
meaning.
one enslaved by his nightmares mother failed to recognise him.
and his guilty conscience.
@Juffrou_Ansie
The slave dealer - Thomas Pringle
From ocean's wave a Wanderer came,
With visage tanned and dun:
His Mother, when he told his name,
Scarce knew her long-lost son;
So altered was his face and frame 5
By the ill course he had run.
There was hot fever in his blood,
And dark thoughts in his brain;
And oh! to turn his heart to good
That Mother strove in vain, 10
For fierce and fearful was his mood,
Racked by remorse and pain.
And if, at times, a gleam more mild
Would o'er his features stray,
When knelt the Widow near her Child, 15
And he tried with her to pray,
It lasted not - for visions wild
Still scared good thoughts away.
‘There's blood upon my hands!’ he said,
‘Which water cannot wash; 20
It was not shed where warriors bled -
It dropped from the gory lash,
As I whirled it o'er and o'er my head,
And with each stroke left a gash.
‘With every stroke I left a gash, 25
While Negro blood sprang high;
And now all ocean cannot wash
My soul from murder's dye;
Nor e'en thy prayer, dear Mother, quash
That Woman's wild death-cry! 30
‘Her cry is ever in my ear,
And it will not let me pray;
Her look I see - her voice I hear -
As when in death she lay,
And said, “With me thou must appear 35
On God's great Judgment-day!”’
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 2
‘Now, Christ from frenzy keep my son!’
The woeful Widow cried;
‘Such murder foul thou ne'er hast done -
Some fiend thy soul belied!’ - 40
‘- Nay, Mother! the Avenging One
Was witness when she died!
‘The writhing wretch with furious heel
I crushed - no mortal nigh;
But that same hour her dread appeal 45
Was registered on high;
And now with God I have to deal,
And dare not meet His eye!’ Type and Form
This poem is a ballad which retells a
Summary story of a son who returns home to his
The speaker highlights the subject of slavery from a mother after being away for a long-time
slave dealer’s point of view. The slave dealer is a doing slave trade. The poem has 8
person who deals with the sale of people from poor stanzas of 6 lines each. Each stanza has
to upper-class backgrounds and forcefully remove its own rhyme scheme.
and transport these people from their families to
other countries or continents
Type and Structure
• It is a ballad.
Tone and Mood
• It tells a dramatic,
The tone is remorseful as the speaker regrets his emotionally charged story.
misdeeds. The mood is sombre/sad/ angry: The • Each stanza consists of
three sets of rhyming
speaker’s mood is sombre as he experiences the agony
couplets and its regular
of being haunted by dreadful memories of what he has
rhythm gives it a songlike
done in the past. and then the harsh (silent) r sound
quality.
shows how these thoughts rip him apart. • The poem is divided into 8
stanzas of six lines each.
• Each stanza has three sets
of rhyming couplets; a set
rhyme scheme is followed
ABABAB /CDCDCD
/EFEFEF/etc., right to the
end.
• It is written in Iambic
pentameter.
• The poem is related from the
third person’s point of view.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 3
TITLE:
• The title, ‘The slave dealer’
introduces the subject matter of the
poem, it deals with slavery and its
negative effects.
• Slave dealers were responsible for
the death of many slaves.
• The slave dealer in this poem is
presented as a man who is plagued
by a guilty conscience and who
believes himself to be doomed,
because of his evil, destructive
actions.
Themes
Torment
Remorsefulness
Slavery
The speaker reveals the slave dealer’s
The speaker expresses the slave
torment and anguish, turmoil and The horror of slavery is told through the
dealer’s most inner feelings through
sadness through the emotive language personal experiences of the speaker
stanza 4:‘There’s blood upon my
that is evident throughout the poem. The who is a slave dealer. The slave dealer,
hands!.......’ This idiom is about being
poem tells us that the slave dealer is ‘Wanderer’, is the one who transported
responsible for someone’s death. He is
haunted by the deeds he committed slaves forcefully from their families and
remorseful for killing people and taking
when he was involved in the slave trade loved ones.
what is not his.
business.
@Juffrou_Ansie
, 4
Stanza 1 Line 1: ‘Wanderer’ serves as a name as it is written with a
capital letter, it will be the only name attributed to the
Metaphor
long-lost son/slave dealer
Line 3: , ‘Mother’ is written with a capital letter – it serves ‘From oceans wave a wanderer came,/With
as a title/name. No specific name is given to her. She visage tanned and dun’ The slave dealer is
represents all the mothers who disapproved of the slave- compared to a normal traveller who has a
His mother does not trading and their sons’ involvement in it. All the mothers deeply tanned face because he has been out in
recognise him (lines 3-4) could do, however, was wait for the time that their sons the sun for a long time.
because of the evil path he would realise the sinful cruelty of their actions and
had chosen, and the hopefully stopped their involvement in the slave-trade.
harshness of the sun has In lines 1-2 the slave dealer is compared to a
altered his outward traveller whose face has tanned to a brownish
appearance. She does not colour because he has been spending a lot of
recognise him, until he tells time in the sun.
her his name. The ‘long –
lost’ suggests that she has
last seen him a long time
ago.
The word ‘Wanderer’ refers to
‘long-lost son’ reminds one of
Line 2: The use of the colon (:) somebody who travels about
the prodigal son’s (parable in
shows that an explanation will aimlessly. Since the person was
Line 2: There is irony to be found the Bible) return home to find
follow. The effect of this focused on making money by
in the fact that his complexion comfort and a sense of
changed appearance will be buying and selling slaves, there
had darkened. He was white and belonging with his father. His
explained was nothing aimless about his
targeted the Black South mother, like the prodigal son’s
activities. The term might,
Africans. His skin colour has Line 4: The use of the semi-colon father, accepts him whole-
however, refer to the sense of loss
become similar to those he (;) creates a longer pause – the heartedly without blaming him
that he feels in his heart and mind
tortured and enslaved. speaker (third person) will give a or telling him off.
at this stage – a more metaphorical
Metaphorically, he is now the detailed explanation of why his
meaning.
one enslaved by his nightmares mother failed to recognise him.
and his guilty conscience.
@Juffrou_Ansie
