Cowper: Power in Snideness

William Cowper’s “Pity for Poor Africans” brings more to the late 18^th century slave trade debate than just its catchy rhyme scheme.  The backhanded sarcasm that dominates the work functions as a powerful rhetorical tool, as it reminds British readers of the unethical selfishness that is backing arguments in favor of slavery and the associated trade.  Throughout the poem, Cowper references the same economic reasoning used by the contemporary supporters of slavery.  He mocks these motives—“What, give up our desserts, our coffee, and tea!” and “But, while they get riches by purchasing blacks,/Pray tell me why we may not also go snacks?”—however, he does so in so subtle a way that pro-slavery readers feel less attacked by his satire than they feel enlightened by his liberalism. 

The anecdote with which Cowper ends his poem is especially powerful, as it puts into a simplistic, straightforward perspective the claim that the British should withhold from doing the right thing so as not to let the “French, Dutch and Danes” surpass them in the global economy.  By rescaling Britain’s plight through the perspective of young Tom, Cowper reemphasizes England’s guilt despite the fact that other economically powerful nations are indulging themselves in the lucrative slave trade.  If a reader can come to the conclusion that Tom lacks integrity for stealing because his friends are doing the same, he or she can draw the same inferences about England and her unforgivable involvement in the institution of slavery.