{"id":182,"date":"2023-02-15T16:30:23","date_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:30:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/?p=182"},"modified":"2023-02-15T16:30:23","modified_gmt":"2023-02-15T16:30:23","slug":"story-of-yearsley-death-of-luco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/2023\/02\/15\/story-of-yearsley-death-of-luco\/","title":{"rendered":"Story of Yearsley, Death of Luco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ann Yearsley\u2019s poem, \u201cDeath of Luco\u201d from On the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade<\/em> is unique within the collection of abolition-focused poems we read for class in that it focuses on a specific character\u2019s story within a larger context rather than the overall context itself. The entirety of the poem details a conflict between Luco and his master or overseer \u201cGorgon, remorseless Christian\u201d (l.253) on an unknown plantation which ends in Luco\u2019s violent death. I found this approach to dealing with the topic of British slavery interesting, as it was a departure from the broader condemnations of the practice as a whole from poets such as Cowper and More. However, Fiona Stafford\u2019s chapter \u201cCommon Causes: The Abolition\u201d offers insight into Yearsley\u2019s own background, and how it contributes to her achievements as a poet. According to Stafford, \u201c\u2026she had been presented to the public as the remarkable \u2018Milkwoman of Bristol\u2019, discovered by Hannah More in a lowly cowshed\u201d and \u201cUniversal equality was especially appealing to a poet whose own poverty had been publicly displayed\u201d (Stafford 71). Stafford argues that Yearsley\u2019s personal \u201cstory\u201d is an important contextual feature that undergirds all her poetry. She \u201chad to overcome the double difficulties of gender and class in order to have her opinions taken seriously, poetry offered a public platform which would have otherwise been unattainable\u201d (70-71). Thus, when viewing Yearsley\u2019s work through Stafford, it is impossible to separate the poet\u2019s work from the poet\u2019s story. Yearsley becomes almost character-like herself, due to the adversity she publicly overcame before becoming successful. Yearsley perhaps shows an awareness for the importance of poetry in providing a platform for individuals<\/em> rather than issues<\/em> in \u201cDeath of Luco\u201d. The brief final stanza of the poem takes a more general questioning approach, \u201cGracious God! \/Why thus in mercy let thy whirlwinds sleep\/O\u2019er a vile race of Christians\u2026\u201d (l.291-294), but this functions more to summarize the devastation of the poem and the focus is still primarily Luco\u2019s story. Yearsley\u2019s choice denotes an awareness of the likeliness of public empathy to be directed more towards individuals, like her own \u201cdespite-the-odds\u201d appreciation. Stafford\u2019s insight into Yearsley\u2019s experience as a poet with a unique backstory demonstrates the inspiration for her anti-slavery sentiments to be grounded within a single character\u2019s story.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ann Yearsley\u2019s poem, \u201cDeath of Luco\u201d from On the Inhumanity of the Slave Trade is unique within the collection of abolition-focused poems we read for class in that it focuses on a specific character\u2019s story within a larger context rather than the overall context itself. The entirety of the poem details a conflict between Luco … Continue reading Story of Yearsley, Death of Luco<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4979,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-182","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-spring-2023"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4979"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=182"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/182\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=182"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=182"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.dickinson.edu\/britishpoetry\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=182"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}