Hannah More. Textual analysis- The Sorrows of Yamba (1795) (Lect. 35)
Life
Birth and Education
Hannah More was born on February 2, 1745, in Fishponds, near Bristol, an important slave-trading town in England. Growing up in a family that valued education, her father, a schoolmaster, educated her with the intention of having her become a schoolmistress, similar to her sisters. This foundational educational experience laid the groundwork for her later pursuits in teaching and writing.
Early Career
In the 1760s, More began teaching at the family school while simultaneously publishing her early writings, which included plays and educational texts. Her literary career began to blossom during this period, as she sought to use her skills to influence young minds.
Personal Life
Though engaged at 22 to William Turner, their marriage never took place; he provided her with a financial stipend of £200 annually, which allowed her some degree of financial independence during that era, allowing her to concentrate on her writing. This combination of professional commitment and personal trials shaped her focus on women's education and social reform.
Roles and Contributions
Hannah More emerged as a multifaceted individual: she was an educator, teacher, writer, poet, social reformer, abolitionist, and a prominent member of the ‘Bluestockings’, a group of intellectual women who advocated for education and social issues. More was also engaged in various philanthropic activities that aimed to improve the conditions of the underprivileged.
Hannah More published a play The Search After Happiness (1762) to instruct young ladies. More's The Inflexible Captive (1774) was performed in Bath. Other plays include Percy: a Tragedy (1778) and The Fatal Falsehood (1779). She came to know the theatre establishment and the library establishment of her day and penned The Bas Bleu (1786) about the Bluestockings who wrote and helped intellectual discussions.
Notable Works
The Search After Happiness (1762)
This play serves as a didactic tool aimed at instructing young ladies on the importance of moral integrity and virtuous living. It emphasizes moral lessons intertwined with relatable narratives.
The Inflexible Captive (1774)
Performed in Bath, this work further established her reputation as a playwright and showcased her ability to weave compelling stories with moral undertones.
The Bas Bleu (1786)
This significant work is focused on the Bluestockings and details intellectual discussions pertinent to women’s education, promoting the idea that women could contribute intellectually to society.
Abolitionist Involvement
During her life, More became acquainted with prominent abolitionist William Wilberforce, which prompted a significant shift in her work towards more religious (evangelical) and abolitionist themes. She established a Sunday school in Cheddar, in 1789, as she purchased a house at Cowslip Green in Somerset, and was instrumental in founding several schools across the Mendip villages (an area where a lot of poor coal miners and fabric workers were), often in the face of opposition. Her efforts were pivotal during a time when educating the poor was not widely accepted. She travelled with her sisters in that industrial and poor area to teach children and adults to read the Bible, write and also learn some mathematics. She also instructed them about moral and behavioural principles. Her charitable work involved her in church politics.
Concerned about the effects of the French Revolution in the 1790's, she wrote Village Politics by Will Chip (1792) and Cheap Repository Tracts (1795-1798) in which she deals with the poor and the humble, disturbed by the lack of ethos within the poor. These were widely distributed works.
She wrote Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799), which advocated women's education, although she was mainly interested in teaching women to become good housewives rather than trying to seek their rights.
However, More herself was never involved with domesticity.
Her only novel, Coelebs in Search of a Wife (1808), envisioned the perfect wife as a traditional one.
Her involvement in charitable work, however, such as the establishment of schools for the poor, encouraged other middle-class women to do volunteer work among the poor and contributed to the increasing influence of women. Her other works included The Feast of Freedom (1819) and Moral Sketches (1819). In the abolitionist movement, More was extremely active and interested in the slaves' freedom and rights.
Later Life
Hannah More continued her charitable work into her old age, witnessing the eventual abolition of slavery before her death on September 7, 1833. Her lifetime of contributions paved the way for many educational reforms and underscored the importance of advocacy in literature. In her old age, people from all parts came to visit the bright, amiable old lady she had become. She spent the last five years of her life at Clifton, often in poor health. Like Wilberforce, she lived just long enough to see the act finally abolishing slavery in the British Empire. More was one of the most widely read authors of her time.
Works
Significant Early Works
The Search After Happiness: A pastoral verse drama, for school girls, emphasizing women's education and virtue, plus their role in society.
Speeches from archetypal female characters such as the fashionable Euphelia, the bookish Cleora, and the lazy Laurinda describe the various unhappinesses arising from a mistaken education, and it is left to the wise Urania to counsel her sex to cultivate the domestic virtues and to be 'Fearful of Fame, unwilling to be known’. this quotation is typical of many female writers of the time, as it symbolises modesty.
The play was performed at the Mores' school and, once republished in London in 1773, was eagerly bought by the public; over 10,000 copies had been sold by the mid-1780s and a twelfth edition appeared in 1800.Essays on Various Subjects (1777): The experience that More had gained as a teacher at her sisters' school provided the material for Essays on Various Subjects, Principally Designed for Young Ladies, published anonymously in 1777. A collection of essays presenting moral topics aimed at guiding conduct and enhancing women’s roles in society.
The eight (8) essays dealt with many of the favourite topics of moralists-such as dissipation, conversation, sentimental connections, education, and religion—and also addressed a subject close to More's bluestocking heart: 'Miscellaneous thoughts on wit’.
In the introduction, she counselled her sex to succeed as women rather than to aspire as men, and throughout the essays, she upheld sexual differences, both in terms of natural abilities and social roles. Convinced of the reciprocal relationship between female education and conduct, she called for greater attention to be paid to the intellectual, sentimental, and religious education of girls, and described female conduct as 'one of the principal hinges on which the great machine of human society turns'Sacred Dramas (1782): More's desire to provide suitably moral material for her pupils to act led her to write five short dramas based on Old Testament stories, later published as Sacred Dramas (1782). Five short dramas based on Old Testament stories designed to convey moral and spiritual lessons. Keen to improve her knowledge of the stage, she frequented the King Street Theatre in Bath, often accompanied by her pupils. Her passion for drama was encouraged by David Garrick, her favourite actor and increasingly her close friend and mentor, who staged her first play, The Inflexible Captive (a reworking of her Metastasio translation), at the Theatre Royal in Bath in April 1775.
The cheering audience notwithstanding, she resisted Garrick's suggestion to transfer the play to the London stage and instead began writing a new play, Percy
Focus on Drama
Hannah More had a keen interest in theatre, regularly attending plays, which influenced her writing. Her play Percy: A Tragedy gained immense popularity and contributed to her literary acclaim.
This was a tragic tale, set in the borders in the twelfth century, of two lovers whose happiness was doomed by the feud between the Douglas and Northumberland families.
Percy met with an enthusiastic reception at Covent Garden in December 1777, even with the critics. In keeping with her conviction that the theatre could have a powerful moral influence what pleased her most was the audience's reaction: "One tear is worth a thousand hands [applause], and I had the satisfaction to see even the men shed them in abundance."
In Percy, More moves criticism towards the Crusades and also about the way women are forced to marry men they do not love. Elwina, the protagonist of Percy, invalidates her father's ideology in many ways: first, in calling for a private justice, she challenges his power to impose on her fidelity to her domestic duties, then, on a larger scale, Elwina calls for the redressing of global justice, rejecting the pseudo-justice of the Crusades.
She made nearly £600 from the rights (the first edition of nearly 4000 sold out within weeks) and, to her barely concealed delight, her authorship of the season's hit became an open secret. Her celebrity was marked by requests for her to sit for her portrait from Daniel Gardiner (1778), Frances Reynolds (1780), and John Opie (1786; commissioned by Elizabeth Montagu), and she was depicted as Melpomene, the tragic muse, in Richard Samuel's The Nine Living Muses of Great Britain which was exhibited in 1779.
To add to her honours she was in 1782 elected a fellow of the Académie des Arts, Sciences et Belles Lettres in Rouen.
Hannah More lost enthusiasm for the theatre after her friend David Garrick died. In 1787, she met John Newton and the 'Clapham Sect' (a group of wealthy evangelical Christians who lived close to Clapham). The group was strongly opposed to the Slave Trade. William Wilberforce was a member of the group and they became close friends.
Abolitionist Poetics
Her poem Slavery, A Poem (1788) emerged amid the rising abolitionist movement, vividly depicting the oppression of slaves and addressing the moral issues surrounding slavery. Through her literature, she sought to highlight women’s issues and the necessity for the education of the underprivileged.
Hannah helped give the abolition movement a public voice with her writings. In 1788, she wrote 'Slavery, a Poem' i', to coincide with Wilberforce's parliamentary campaign for abolition. The poem dramatically described a mistreated, enslaved female separated from her children and it questioned Britain's role in the Slave Trade.
Her religious works include Sacred Dramas (1782). Thoughts on the Importance of the Manners of the Great to General Society (1788), and Slavery: A Poem (1788).
Continuing Influence
Her later works, including Strictures on the Modern System of Female Education (1799), advanced her progressive notions regarding women’s education, advocating for a more robust educational system that would empower women and elevate their societal roles. More's writing not only reflected her commitment to social reform but also influenced future generations of women writers and educators.
Textual analysis: “The Sorrows of Yamba” (1795)
During slavery era, abolitionist theme was an important issue in British literature, especially in poetry, a popular form of expression at that time. Poets and playwrights showed their response to the slave-trade especially in the Romantic period. Hannah More's Slavery; A Poem (1788), The Slave Trade (1790), Cheap Repository Tracts (1795-98), Ann Yearsley's A Poem on the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade (1788), Anna Laetitia Barbauld's Epistle to William Wilberforce, Esq... on the Rejection of the Bill for Abolishing the Slave Trade (1791), Amelia Opie's The Black Man's Lament; or, How to Make Sugar (1826), or William Blake's 'The Little Black Boy' from Songs of Innocence (1789) are great abolitionist works that are inspired by anti-slave trade theme.
"The Sorrows of Yamba; or, the Negro Woman's Lamentation" (1795) is another abolitionist poem of Hannah More. "The Sorrows of Yamba", published in 1795 in her Cheap Repository Tracts series, was one of the most popular and frequently reprinted antislavery poems of its time. The poem conveys both a feeling of pain and despair of an African woman, and strong political views. Indeed, Yamba is an African woman who was taken away from her African country and family and kidnapped into slavery by British slave traders.
More gives a realistic descriptions with very precise details on the living conditions of slaves. For instance, how was their condition during the voyage from Africa to the New World: "Naked on the platform lying" (37).
Come, kind death! and give me rest,
Yamba has no friend but thee;
Thou can'st ease my throbbing breast,
Thou can'st set the Prisoner free.
Down my cheeks the tears are dripping,
Broken is my heart with grief;
Mangled my poor flesh with whipping,
Come kind death! and bring relief.
Born on Afric's Golden Coast,
Once I was as blest as you;
Parents tender I could boast,
Husband dear, and children too.
some of these words are spoken by Yamba herself, some are spoken by a political alliened narrator. in the last stanza, Yamba recalls her life in Africa with his husband and kids, speaking directly to British women who cherish the family life, comparing the two.
Whity man he came from far,
Sailing o'er the briny flood;
Who, with help of British tar,
Buys up human flesh and blood.
With the Baby at my breast;
(Other two were sleeping by)
In my hut I sat at rest,
With no thought of danger nigh.
[...]
Then for love of filthy Gold,
Strait they bore me to the sea;
Cramm'd me down a Slave Ship's hold,
Where were Hundreds stow'd like me.
[...]
in this first stanza Yamba explains who is responsible for her kidnapping and her state of slavery: both white man and the British navy.
Naked on the Platform lying,
Now we cross the tumbling wave;
Shrieking, sickening, fainting, dying,
Deed of shame for Britons brave.
At the savage Captain's beck,
Now like Brutes they make us prance;
Smack the Cat about the Deck,
And in scorn they bid us dance.
Nauseous horse beans they bring nigh,
Sick and sad we cannot eat;
Cat must cure the Sulks they cry,
Down their throats we'll force the meat
[...]
the slaves were naked to strip them of dignity and made dance so that they could exercise somehow, and not fell sick. the tumbling waves made people seasick and panicking a lot. a lot of slaves tried to refuse to eat, causing forced-feeding in ver violent ways.
In "The Sorrows of Yamba" (1795) More - while suggesting religion as a possible form of relief for the enduring suffering of the poor slave Yamba - does not hesitate to denounce the brutality of the British traders and sailors who, away from home, betray what at home they seem to cherish as inviolable and sacred, namely domestic life and familial affections. Thus, families are torn apart with brutal violence. Many are raped, get sick, are lashed or die, including Yamba's child: "Shrieking, sickening, fainting, dying" (38).
More gives Yamba a voice to tell her story and denounces the wrongs she had to undergo. The 'middle passage' which the Africans slaves were obliged to bear is described as humiliation and sufferings.
Because these sufferings the youngest child Yamba could keep with her dies: "Thou shalt feel the lash no more" (39) and "My poor child was cold and dead" (44) and death is the only way out slavery she can have. The author gives specific and simple descriptions about living conditions of the slaves. The living conditions of the slaves are so cruelly and insufferable that Yamba calls for death which is more comforting than living as a slave.
Yamba tells that even dying would give rest to her because her shoulders can not bear this burden anymore. More makes frequent references to Christianity in her poem. She uses laudatory terms to depict religion "Lord of Glory"; "Gracious Heaven"; "Grace Divine"; "good Missionary man" and "Joy and Glory in my Lord" among others.
She is also very explicit and goes into all details of religion, mentioning the Bible, the missionary, Jesus and heaven. She even refers to the Christian baptism ceremony, Yamba rejoicing over her new status of convert: "Duly now baptiz'd am l" (119).
This praising of Christianity clearly echoes More's evangelical beliefs. However, towards the end of the poem, More daringly launches a frontal attack on the traders responsible for Yamba's fate.
Through the poetics of allegory (for example in the phrase 'British Sons of Murder'), as well as an emphatic syntactic rhetoric (a series of vocatives and imperatives such as 'Mock no further' or the anaphorically reiterated 'Cease' and 'bid'). More places her female poetic voice in a powerful and permanent antagonism with the British history of national values and patriotic pride:
Cease, ye British sons of murder!
Cease from forging Afric's Chain;
Mock your Saviour's name no further,
Cease your savage lust of gain.
Ye that boast "ye rule the waves".
Bid no Slave-ship soil the sea;
Ye that "never will be slaves"
Bid poor Afric's land be free.
It might be noted that in the line "Cease your savage lust of gain") More cleverly reverses - very much as Thomas Clarkson does in his An Essay on the Slavery and Commerce of the Human Species
(1785), with the term 'barbarian' - the contemporary use and meaning of the word 'savage'. More uses it as a label for the British slave traders rather than their human goods.
She also quotes ironically two of the lines of the popular patriotic song "Rule, Britannia" ("Ye that boast 'ye rule the waves, / Bid no Slave-ship soil the sea; / Ye that 'never will be slaves / Bid poor Afric's land be free") in order to mock the putative love for freedom traditionally attributed to the British people but that from More's viewpoint is not equally bestowed by them on other peoples, races or nations.
It should also be pointed out that 'The Sorrows of Yamba' was published during the years of the French Terror, when the British establishment had launched a severe crusade against radicals and dissenters in general: a period of war and social instability that obliged even the most committed abolitionists to withdraw from the public scene. Hannah More was not a radical but she was not at all new to firm opposition to the slave trade, having published in 1788 - at the outbreak of the movement and on the eve of the mass petitions presented to Parliament by Wilberforce - another abolitionist text, Slavery, A Poem.
Slavery a Poem is not a popular ballad easy to sing or to remember, like 'The Sorrows of Yamba', but is framed in the polite form of narrative verse and offers to the reader an interesting interplay between notes and text, prose and poetry, the notes contextualizing through quotation and personal explanation what the poetical text theorizes.
If occasionally More appears to negotiate with some of the stereotypes of the time, more frequently she overturns British contemporary assumptions and confronts white supine connivance: no one can pretend not to see or not to know any longer; every British citizen has to answer for his/her own share of responsibility in the obscene trade:
Hold, murderers, hold! Nor aggravate distress;
Respect the passion you yourself possess, ...
Barbarians, hold! Th'opprobrious commerce spare,
Respect his sacred image which they bear"....
And thou, WHITE SAVAGE! Whether lust of gold, Or lust of conquest, rule thee uncontrol'd!
Hero, or robber! - by whatever name
Thou plead thou impious claim to wealth or fame (From Slavery a Poem)
Hannah More, fully conscious of the power of the press and of the appeal exercised by poetry and, more extensively, by literature, not by chance in late December 1787 wrote hurriedly "Slavery, a Poem" to coincide with the Parliamentary debate (that was eventually postponed), explaining: "if it does not come out at the particular moment when the discussion comes on in parliament, it will not be worth a straw".
This divine origin is heavily underlined by More in her reversal of the stereotyped racial and social ladder of the time, whereby she dubs the pro-slavery exponents themselves 'murderers', 'barbarians' and 'white savages', including in such accusatory definitions all the British who claim not to know about 'Th'opprobrious commerce', and turning the slaves, instead, the 'living' image of the divine: 'Respect his sacred image which they bear".