What occupied the thoughts of those Brits during the Romantic years? Primarily the French. The French Revolution (beginning with the assembly of the States General in July 1793) tore through the minds of most Europeans and sparked ideas of independence, individual worth and freedom. Trust the french to start such chaos! Cue repressive measures in England. It's funny to think what powerful people will do to remain in power. We are concerned with class here: an aristocracy worried that the common people will overrule their comfy lifestyle. Eventually, free expression and common concern overrules even something as thriving and powerful as the African Slave Trade. Suddenly everybody has a say- or believes they have a right to it. Poets explore the nobility and worth in such expressions: in Wordsworth's We Are Seven, even a child has something worthwhile to contribute to the adult way of thinking: tangible logic is given the shaft as room is made for insightful intuition.
Slavery is abolished in the Empire in 1807. I find it interesting to see how much we congratulate ourselves for that one. The forgive and forget policy we seem to have adopted and embrace is somewhat ridiculous. I lived in Ghana for three years, and one of the things that struck me about being so involved in society there is the fear that those people have of "the white man". The general consensus seems to be not to trust the expatriate: when the self is concerned, freedom is very valued. On many occasions I was unexpectadely (and unprovokingly) attacked with statements of equality. I felt like they didn't believe that I believed we were indeed equal. There is a lasting effect of the slave trade in Ghana: blame is not something that is forgotten even today, no matter how much freedom became valued in the Romantic Period.
No comments:
Post a Comment