1. Introduction 2

2. Georgic poems 2

2.1 Charles Woodmason`s poem

Indico

as an example of georgic poetry 3

3. James Grainger′s poem

The Sugar Cane

4

3.1 Information about the poem

The Sugar Cane

4

3.2 Reception after the publication of

The Sugar Cane

6

4. The poem as an approach to justify slavery 7

4.1 The cultural politics of sugar 7

4.2 The poetics of empire 8

4.2.1 A Thesis: Justifying slavery to the British Nation 9

4.2.2 Antithesis:

The

Sugar Cane

incriminates slavery and the colonial project 12

4.2.3 Synthesis: Ways to overcome the contradiction between empire and freedom 13

5. Summary and concluding thoughts 15

6. Bibliography 17

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1. Introduction

The subject for this term paper is James Grainger′s approach to use the means of georgic

poetry to justify the slave system in the 18th century. The primary object of my study is

Grainger′s poem

The Sugar Cane,

which was written in "West-Indian georgic" style. First of

all I will give a short explanation of georgic poems and their history. Then I will turn to

Charles Woodmason, who immigrated to South Carolina and was responsible for many

georgic poems in the New World giving the farmers extensive agricultural advices.

Exemplified by Woodmason`s

Indico

I will point out the typical characteristics of a georgic

poem. Next I will focus on James Grainger and his poem

The Sugar Cane

. He lived and

worked on the Caribbean islands as a doctor and provided medical care for the slaves. He

wrote down his experiences in the poem and gave detailed information for his readers in

Britain and Europe about the West Indies. Furthermore I will explore the significance of sugar

for empire building and the poetics of empire. In addition I will thoroughly analyze

The Sugar

Cane

since responses to Grainger′s poem in the eighteenth century were quite contradictory.

On the one hand he justified slavery and the plantation system and on the other hand he

condemned the colonial project and slavery. I will show some passages from the poem as

examples for the thesis of justification of slavery and the antithesis of criticism of slavery.

Finally I will try to work out and present ways on how he overcomes the contradiction

between empire and freedom. At at the end I will give a short summary and some concluding

thoughts.

2. Georgic poems

According to

The New Princeton Encyclopaedia of Poetry and Poetics (1993)

a georgic poem

is a "didactic poem primarily intended to give directions concerning some skill, art, or

science, such as practical aspects of agriculture and rural affairs. It also celebrates the virtues

of hard work and cultivation." The model for such verse in postclassical literature was

Virgil′s Georgica written between 37 and 29 BC. Virgil was born to a farming family, and his

poem gives specific instructions to Italian farmers along with a passionate message to care for

the land and for the animals and crops that it sustains (cf. http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/

georgics.html). The word georgics stems from the Latin word georgicus and means

agricultural (cf. http://aolsvc.merriam-webster.aol.com/dictionary /georgics).

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2.1 Charles Woodmason`s poem Indico as an example of georgic poetry

One of his poems,

Indigo

(1757), is written in the georgic tradition of poetic advice for

agriculture. He pays homage to indigo, which was a much-desired plant grown for its blue

extracts that were used for dye (cf. http://bell.lib.umn.edu/Products/Indigo.html). Woodmason

also presents agricultural advice to the planters in how to successfully cultivate indigo and

uses several rhetorical devices, such as personification and references to Greek mythology.

In the following I want to present a typical passage from the poem

Indico

giving an example

on how a georgic poem is structured and what is characteristic:

(

Indico- line 81 et seq

.)

Break off Delays, and thus prepare the Plain,

Let two Feet void `twixt every Trench remain.

Tho`some, imprudently, their Room confine,

Allowing half that Space to every Line.

Give Room, one Stem as much shall yield,

And richer far the Weed: So shall thy Field

With greater Ease from noxious Herbs be freed,

And knotty Grass that

choaks

the

tender

Weed,

So shall the Root by larger Banks be fed,

Nor fear the Rays from piercing Phoebus1 shed.

Woodmason describes very precisely how the farmers can get rid of noxious herbs which

destroy the precious plant indigo and gives agricultural advice. The highlighted words are

examples of personification, which were quite common in georgic poems. "Personification

metaphorically represents an animal or inanimate object as having human attributes, e.g. of

form, character, feelings, behaviour, and so on."(http://www.virtualsalt.com/

rhetoric.htm#Personification). Through this rhetorical device Woodmason wants to make the

act of getting rid of pest plants clearer and more real to his reader by defining or explaining

the concept in terms of everyday human action. Also the reference to Greek mythology is

quite common since

The Georgics

by Virgil is full of such references (cf.

http://classics.mit.edu/Virgil/georgics.html).

1 "Literally, "the radiant one". In Greek mythology, an epithet of Apollo because of his connection with the sun

or as descendant of the Titaness Phoebe (his grandmother). The Romans praised him as Phoebus Apollo." (cf.

http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/phoebus.html).

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3. James Grainger′s poem The Sugar Cane

3.1 Information about the poem The Sugar Cane

The Sugar Cane

is written in four books and consists of some 2500 lines, with an approximate

distribution of about 600 lines to each book. Each book is annotated with extensive footnotes

about the natural history, topography, plants, animals and colonial arrangements of the

Caribbean islands as well as helpful explanations on local customs and diseases. Grainger

drew this information from his medical work on the Caribbean islands and from extensive

research (cf. Sandiford 2000, 68). For instance the long footnote commentary on the custard

apple2, which can be found in the footnotes of book I, is a good example to show Grainger′s

attempt to familiarize the unfamiliar:

The true Indian name of this tree is Suirsaak. It grows in the barrenest

places to a considerable height. Its fruit will often weigh two pounds.

Its skin is green, and somewhat prickly. [...]Taken by the mouth,

the Indians pretend it is a specific in the epilepsy (cf. Gilmore 2000, 179).

The fruit and its tree are described, measured and tasted for the reader. The fruit′s botanical

classification and its growth locales are clarified as well as its other European names.

Furthermore the properties as a potential medicine, which Grainger learned from experiences

among native peoples, are featured and commented upon. In such lengthy footnotes Grainger

shows to English and European readers the very special knowledge that only a learned

colonial could obtain by living and being born in the colonies (cf. Mulford 2001, 87).

The first book describes the ideal soils, seasons and other physical conditions favourable to

the cultivation of sugar cane (cf. Gilmore 200, 91-109). The second book gives information

about natural threats of crops such as locusts, rats, mongooses, earthquakes and hurricanes. At

the end Grainger tells the romantic tale of a star-crossed Creole3 love. (cf. Gilmore 2000, 111-

126). The third book describes typical activities, e.g. harvesting and grinding, which bring

sugar and the poetics of labour in great detail (cf. Gilmore 2000, 127-144). The fourth book

gives an ethnographic description of the slave population, e.g. provenance, mores, manners

2 "Any various Annona species of shrubs or small trees of the Annonaceae family, native to the New World

tropics and Florida, or their fruits. The fruit of the common custard apple (A. reticulata), or bullock′s heart of the

West Indies, is dark brown in colour and marked with depressions giving it a quilted appearance; its pulp is

reddish yellow, sweetish, and very soft " ( see http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9028319/custard-apple).

3 Two definitions:

-> "the local elite of European descent whose wealth and position was dependent on

the ownership of plantations and of the slaves of African origin who cultivated the land in sugar-cane and

processed the cane into sugar for export to Britain" (see Gilmore 200, 14).

-> "a white person descended from early French or Spanish settlers of the United

States Gulf states and preserving their speech and culture" (see http://aolsvc.merriam-

webster.aol.com/dictionary).

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