The Runaway Slave

                The first poem I looked at was the poem by Maria Lowell called The Slave-mother. This poem explored the idea that a woman that gives birth to a child while in slavery has no right to the child. This is a play on pathos because of all the emotions that any mother can relate to. However, the fact is that any woman in slavery does not have any other choice but to have no right to their children. This is heartbreaking that mother cannot even feel like they have a new gift of life through a child. However, many of these women feel guilt and are scared for the upcoming lives for their children. This is something that Elizabeth Barrett Browning explores in her poem The Runaway Slave.

                The next part that I looked at was The Literary World that was writing a critique on Barrett Browning’s poem The Runaway Slave. This criticism is degrading Barrett Browning’s work due to her use of addressing the issue of slavery onto America as a whole. The writer thinks that only the states that utilize slavery should be included in the piece instead of America as a whole. However I think that defeats the purpose of the poem all together. Barrett Browning might argue to this critic that even though the Northern states are not taking part in owning actual slaves the fact that they are not taking part in a way to help end slavery in the south makes them responsible. This is the purpose of the poem to make awareness and spread a desire to end slavery.

                The final portion of Appendix C that I looked at was Charlotte Forten discussing Barrett Browning’s poem The Runaway Slave. Different to the critique before, this section discusses the wonderful emotional appeal that the poem achieves for readers. The section mentions the idea of suffering being so descriptive in the poem and the sympathy that is therefore created for the speaker. This is achieving that goal of Barrett Browning because the awareness of slavery is not only addressed, but an emotion that effects the want for change is ignited in the audience whether or not they are directly involved in slavery.