1 - ‘Muse Suppress the Tale’: James Grainger's The Sugar-Cane and the Poetry of Refinement

Summary

It was very common in several of the islands, particularly in St. Kitt's [sic], for the slaves to be branded with the initial letters of their master's name, and a load of heavy iron hooks hung about their necks. Indeed, on the most trifling occasions they were loaded with chains, and often other instruments of torture were added. The iron muzzle, thumb-screws, &c. are so well known, as not to need a description, and were sometimes applied for the slightest faults. I have seen a negro beaten till some of his bones were broken, for only letting a pot boil over. It is not uncommon, after a flogging, to make slaves go on their knees, and thank their owners, and pray, or rather say, God bless them.

– Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative

The Muse thinks it disgraceful in a Briton to sing of the Sugar-cane, since to it is owing the Slavery of the Negroes.

– Anonymous, Argument to Part I of Jamaica, a Poem, In Three Parts

Muscovado Poetics

After a sustained period of neglect, James Grainger's The Sugar-Cane has recently begun to attract a good deal of critical attention and is now generally regarded as a work with a major, if controversial part to play in the initial shaping of the Caribbean literary canon.