“Turner”, a long narrative poem written by Guyanese poet David Dabydeen, was first published by Jonathan Cape in 1995. The poem is a response to British painter J.M.W. Turner’s
Slavers Throwing Overboard the Dead and Dying – Typhoon coming on, often called simply
The Slave Ship. The painting, which was exhibited for the first time in 1840, depicts the events of what has become known as the
Zongcmassacre (Frost 371). In 1781, the captain of the slave ship
Zongordered the drowning of approximately 132 African men, women and children bound for Jamaica to be sold as slaves, when the ship ran out of potable water. Slaves who died from natural causes would not be covered by insurance, but slaves thrown overboard were considered as a loss of cargo and ship owners could reclaim their…
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Citation: Howley, Ellen. "Turner: New and Selected Poems". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 March 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=12726, accessed 21 November 2024.]
