Two Approaches to Fighting Slavery

In Barbauld's poems "The Mouse's Petition" and "Epistle to William Wilberforce..." she addresses, in my eyes, slavery through reason and passion. Several of the other blog posts have discussed the absurdity of the mouse's plea; the reason for part of the absurdity is the intellectual nature of the mouse's speech. The mouse describes itself as a "pensive prisoner" and "forlorn", demonstrating its intelligence. It also goes on to reference Priestly's notion of the transmigration of souls (according to the footnote on page 41) and appeal to the philosophic mind (25). Yet the poem also demonstrates passion, especially through italics in lines 38 and 40. "Epistle to William Wilberforce..." is the reverse of "The Mouse's Petition" focusing more on passion while still demonstrating reason. The poem begins with the first two lines each ending in exclamation marks, and also uses much more visceral imagery like "still Afric bleeds" (15). However, reason still plays a supporting role, as the speaker references and personifies "faithful History" as an academic reason to end slavery; discussing how the future will look back on this period in time. Barbauld uses reason and passion in concert to make her argument. She uses the mouse and its predicament to demonstrate the immorality of confining and abusing an intellectual equal, and the speaker of "Epistle" highlights the emotional ugliness of slavery. Together, these poems make a powerful statement on slavery and equality.