The Sorrows Of Yamba And Negro Woman's Lamentation

Another poem by an abolitionist poet that focuses on sentimentalism and generating emotional responses from their readers is Hannah More’s The Sorrows of Yamba, or, the Negro Woman’s Lamentation. This, in a similar strategy to Opie’s poem focuses and develops a narrative around a slave named Yamba. Sentimentalism is largely important in telling Yamba’s story through the graphic and horrific description of the horrors she experiences as a slave. One of the most significant descriptions is how families are torn apart and sold into slavery simply for economic gain. For example, Yamba says:
“Driven like cattle to a fair, … Child from mother too they tear, All for the love of filthy gold.” (Line 57, 59, 60). This description of mother and