Cowper's Pity for Poor Africans

I found Copwer’s short poems very interesting to read because they were simply written and gave the impression that Cowper was instructing his reader to support abolition of the slave trade.  The fact that Cowper uses such simple language and easy to understand metaphors, such as the illustration of stealing apples in “Pity for Poor Africans,” makes me think that he targeted these poems to average citizens of England rather than aristocracy.  In fact, he even gently admonishes those who refuse to give up the sugar in their coffee and tea: “I pity them greatly, but I must be mum,/ For how could we do without sugar and rum?”  From these descriptions, Cowper illustrates that simply “supporting” abolition is not enough to end the slave trade; abolitionists must sacrifice and realize that even though an individual sacrifice is a drop in the bucket, it can contribute to a movement as a whole.  The lines at the end of the poem, “But, since they will take them, I think I’ll go too,/ He will lose none by me, though I get a few” demonstrates that not actively participating in the slave trade, but benefitting from it only cultivates the problem and is immoral.