John Greenleaf Whittier [1807-1892] was one of the earliest and most energetic of the Abolitionists. His poems were published by William Lloyd Garrison and became the lyric and song of many of the anti-slavery movements. Often described as one of the Fireside Poets, the term is too soft. He was thorny and salty . . . a John the Baptist of a man.
I cannot recommend reading him highly enough. He's a staple around our place.
The Poetical Works of John Greenleaf Whittier. With Illustrations. Boston. Houghton, Mifflin and Co. 1892. 491pp.
Very attractive half leather with unusual peach / orange tone marbled boards and foredges. The endpapers match as well. Aside from minor rubbing, in very good condition. A lovely copy issued the year of Whittier's death.
THE SLAVE SHIPS
"All ready?" cried the captain;
"Ay ay!" the seamen said;
"Heave up the worthless lubbers, -
The dying and the dead."
Up from the slave-ship's prison
Fierce, bearded heads were thrust:
"Now let the sharks look to it -
Toss up the dead ones first!"
Corpse after corpse came up, -
Death had been busy there;
Where every blow is mercy,
Why should the spoiler spare?
Corpse after corpse they cast
Sullenly from the ship,
Yet bloody with the traces
Of fetter-link and whip.
. . .
Hark! from the ship's dark bosom,
The very sounds of hell!
The ringing clank of iron, -
The maniac's short, sharp yell! -
The hoarse, low curse, throat-stifled, -
The starving infant's moan, -
The horror of a breaking heart
Poured through a mother's groan.
. . .
God of the earth! what cries
Rang upward unto thee?
Voices of agony and blood,
From ship-deck and from sea.
The last dull plunge was heard, -
The last wave caught its stain, -
And the unsated shark looked up
For human hearts in vain.