The poem "The Negro's Complaint" by William Cowper is a seven-stanza poem, with each stanza consisting of eight lines. The poem employs a rhyme scheme, which is "ababcdcd" with strong end rhymes.

The poem documents in a sense, a man's journey, albeit a journey he did not want to take, from his home in Africa to a life of slavery. It is evident that he was uprooted harshly from his life in Africa as seen in this line…

            Forc'd from home and all its pleasures,

He has been purchased, as if he is a piece of merchandise, from men from England. However, this man indicates that although they bought his physical being, they have not, will not, and cannot purchase his mind (his thoughts and free will thinking). In this sense, he is still free. This is what he can hold onto to retain his dignity as a human being.

It is poignant that this man notes that no matter what a person's skin color – he being a black man - we all have the same human feelings, hope, wishes, and dreams for a peaceful, productive as well as free life.

In addition, this man ponders a big question that concerns him – does God allow for what these English men are doing – does he sanction their actions against these men who are now slaves. The answer from the man, as pertains to God, is that God does not sanction this behavior. In fact, the man believes God is punishing the nation for this, with tornadoes, "wasting towns", and more. This is apparent in the lines…

             He, foreseeing what vexations

                Afric's sons should undergo,

            Fix'd their tyrants' habitations

               Where his whirlwinds answer—No.

In the end, the man questions those who have made him a slave. He asks them to prove that they have human feelings, in essence that they are capable of compassion, mercy, justice and decent, right behavior.

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How can I analyze William Cowper's poem "The Negro's Complaint"?

"The Negro's Complaint" is a poem written by Englishman William Cowper, a poet and hymnodist, who composed this controversial poem as an act of conscience, for he felt the guilt for the sin of enslaving Africans by his countrymen. Cowper gives voice to those who have none and are not permitted to make any outcries, hoping to awaken the conscience of slave owners and traders both.

In seven stanzas written in mostly iambic pentameter with the rhyme scheme ababcdcd, there is a musicality to this poem reflective of the emotions of the speaker, a slave. In one stanza, he voices the question of why God has created the cotton plant,

Why did all-creating nature
Make the plant for which we toil?

and how horrible it is for anyone to be a slave,

Think, ye masters iron-hearted...
How many back have smarted 
For the sweets your can affords...

Further, the speaker of the poem foresees what God will do to the slave traders. They must heed their actions,

Hark! He answers! -- Wild tornadoes 
Strewing yonder seas with wrecks
Wasting towns, plantations, meadows....

Finally, the speaker challenges the slave traders to reflect upon what they do to these innocent people, how their actions are contradictory to their Christian philosophy. Then, he exhorts people to prove that they do, indeed, possess the human charity necessary for a good life and act against this heinous crime of slavery.