Rare anti-slavery poem by Coleridge at risk of leaving UK, according to DCMS

A rare anti-slavery poem written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is at risk of leaving the UK unless a domestic buyer can be found.

The poem, a Greek Sapphic ode titled Ode On The West-Indian Slave Trade, discusses the evils of slavery and laments the fate of slaves on the Middle Passage transportation route.

It won Coleridge, one of the leading figures in the English Romantic movement, the Browne Medal for Classical composition at the University of Cambridge.

The Department of Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) say the manuscript is valued at £20,400 plus VAT.

The DCMS say a decision on the export licence application for the manuscript will be deferred for a period ending on May 16, to allow for a domestic buyer to come forward.

Arts and Heritage Minister Lord Parkinson of Whitley Bay said: “This fascinating manuscript offers an insight into the early thinking of one of Britain’s greatest poets, particularly on the heated debates on the abolition of slavery.

“I sincerely hope that a UK buyer can be found to ensure it can remain here in the UK where it can be studied and enjoyed by future generations.”

The manuscript is the only known draft of the verses by Coleridge, who died in 1834.

He wrote the poem 15 years before the slave trade was abolished by Parliament.

It offers “an insight into the early thinking of one of Britain’s most significant literary figures and is important for biographical studies of the poet, who wrote classic poems including The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan”, the DCMS said.

The decision to defer the export licence application follows the advice of the Reviewing Committee on the Export of Works of Art and Objects of Cultural Interest.

Committee member Peter Barber said: “This insignificant-seeming, annotated draft of a poem in Greek is an emotive relic of one of this country’s greatest poets and sages.

“It dates back to the time when, as a Cambridge undergraduate in May-June 1792, Coleridge was hoping, by winning a university prize for the verse, to prove to his sceptical parents that he had the makings of a scholar.

“Its content reflects his heartfelt – and lifelong – commitment to one of the burning national issues of the time, the abolition of slavery, and he continued to refer to the poem throughout his life.

“The draft also throws light on his close but hitherto little explored relationship with his revered eldest brother, George, to whom he sent it for comment.

“For all these reasons I fervently hope that a way can be found to keep the draft poem in this country.”