Forc'd from home and all its pleasures,/ Afric's coast I left forlorn;/ To increase a stranger's treasures,/ O'er the raging billows borne;
The speaker’s native home is on the African Coast; a home which was valuable to the speaker. The speaker is saddened because of being coerced to move out of his or her home. The Speaker feels that it is unfair to work for the strangers instead of working to increase his or her wealth. The speaker has experienced suffering as a result of being forced out of the African home.
Men from England bought and sold me,/ Paid my price in paltry gold;
These lines identify the key players in the slave trade. The slave buyers originated from England. They paid gold as a price for the speaker who holds that the gold was a pittance.
Minds are never to be sold./ Still in thought as free as ever,
The speaker believes that slave trade cannot enslave the conscience of a man. Thus, the speaker’s perceptions of slave trade have not changed even after being sold into slavery. The mind is free; hence the condition of slavery does not restrict the speaker from thinking independently. The enslavement of the physical body does not automatically result in the enslavement of the mind.
What are England's rights, I ask,/ Me from my delights to sever,/ Me to torture, me to task?/ Fleecy locks and black complexion
The Speaker wonders whether it is moral for the men from England to deny the speaker his rights. The speaker uses a rhetorical question in this line to argue that men from England do not have the right to torture the speaker because of his hair and black color.
Skins may differ, but affection/ Dwells in white and black the same.
Here, the speaker asserts that skin colors should not be the basis for slavery. People from various races are similar because they are human beings. The lines challenge the perceptions that people have concerning the differences between people that are based on skin colors.
