The Cry Of The Children

Siegfried Sassoon’s “They” and Wilfred Owen’s “Anthem for Doomed Youth” depict disillusionment with religion justifying or romanticizing World War I. Both these poems express the authors’ frustrations that religion cannot justify the tragedies and consequences of the war. These frustrations are conveyed through tones of mocking and sarcasm, in addition to other methods. In “They” Sassoon creates a conversation between a Bishop and soldiers to express his frustration, while Owen uses sarcastic questions about rituals to express his. It is clear that both poems are disillusioned by religion justifying the war, however, they focus on the two different aspects of the church’s ignorance of incompetent clergy and empty rituals rather than commenting on religion and faith as a whole.

Poems consist of a variation of different techniques in order to convey a message or idea to readers. Wilfred Owen, Thomas Hardy, Adrienne Rich, Bruce Dawe and Robert Browning are great poets who explore these issues, conveying their emotions, which influences a perception of an issue. In each of their poems they express the hidden message of hope, along with their main message. They use similar techniques to express their ideas, which illustrates their purpose to the reader.

Florence Kelley uses the rhetorical strategies of repetition, pathos, imagery, logos, and carefully placed diction to express how child labor is morally wrong. Her vivid and strong descriptions garner sympathy from her Philadelphia audience. Her use of diction expresses how the audience is to be blamed equally for the cruelty and inhumane nature of child labor. She is able to spur her audience and call them to action against the evil of child labor. “For the sake of the children… and their cause” (ln 92-94), Kelley expresses that

Alfred Tennyson got most of his ideas for poems from things in his life such as relationships and family trouble. “I must lose myself in action, lest I wither in despair.” (Tennyson 1). Tennyson was regarded as “Chief Representative” of the Victorian age because of his influence through his works (Southam 1219).

From John Keats’ dreamy sonnets to the Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre laments, the most renowned poems across movements and writing styles capture and illustrate the fleeting emotions one feels when one soul impacts another. Through diction, devices, and form, a poet imparts the impression of his muse, the source of these emotions, much like an artist illustrates his source of inspiration through any combination of media. Amy Lowell, a twentieth century pioneer of modern poetry, is one such poet. In her poem, “A Lady”, the muse is not only the subject, but the audience, whom she directly addresses. To describe the subject, her muse, Lowell uses allusions to the arts, elegant and domestic imagery, and repetitive sounds; in conjunction, she creates

Poetry has a role in society, not only to serve as part of the aesthetics or of the arts. It also gives us a view of what the society is in the context of when it was written and what the author is trying to express through words. The words as a tool in poetry may seem ordinary when used in ordinary circumstance. Yet, these words can hold more emotion and thought, however brief it was presented.

Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote “The Cry of the Children” during the Victorian Age; her piece reflects on the relentless child labor during that time and describes the poor treatment of the children. During the Victorian Age, England was undergoing many significant changes. England was making economic advances and similarly, socially and ethically improving the lives of its inhabitants. England was finally introducing the railroad system, which resulted in manufacturing growth. Despite a considerable rise in industry, the farmers of the 1830’s had a difficult time

Poetry is a timeless form of art, where a function of poetry can be used to share a message, idea, or perspective that was written hundreds of years ago with the world we live in today. In the poems “Sadie and Maud”, “The Buried Life”, and “This Moment”, we witnessed three poems, written in three very different time periods, by very different poets, all portray very similar messages by using the poetic function of inspiration. Inspiration is something that surrounds all of us, and having the ability to find inspiration in timeless pieces of poetry is a tool we all can use, no matter what part of society, culture, or background we come

For years poetry has been used by millions of people to comfort, inform and entertain. With so many genres in poetry, there are countless possibilities and techniques found written within this type of literature. In most poems the author has a main point that he or she is trying to deliver to the audience. This main point can be achieved in many forms and fashions, such as by using symbolism and imagery. In Emily Dickinson

In examining the various titles used by Browning, it is obvious that her poems were socially engaged and profound in the exploration of the genre. Throughout her poem entitled "The Cry of the Children" even if she must have been politically accused, sincere compassion for young children is clear as condemned to child labor. In the poem entitled "The Cry Of The Human" it also shows how it was socially engaged. In her poems, she was also deeply rooted in gender, for she wrote poetry to expose the challenges that female novel writers faced in patriarchal society. "The points of the fugitive pilgrim slave", on the other hand, emphasized the status of the black girl in

Considering that Browning heard the actual cries of the children whom she so poignantly bemoans in her poem, it is evident that her ballad is rather a cry for the children. Her didactic poem is an articulate attempt to motivate legislative change for exploited children through challenging the injustices they experienced from their suppressors, in which she questions if they “ask [children] why they stand weeping sore… in our happy Fatherland?” This rhetorical question challenges those that exploit the young for the sake of their own selfish prosperity through contrasting the misery of exploited children against the shallow exuberance of industrialised England. Browning further elucidates the abhorrence of child labour by offering exploited children a voice to reveal their experiences of suppression, in which she uses direct speech to portray them as commenting that “‘It is good when it happens,’ say the children, ‘That we die before our time!’” Browning protests for change through challenging the obscenity of child labour, highlighting that death seems to be an alluring alternative to the misery exploited children experienced as they are crippled by the suppressive machine of industry. Browning uses poetry as a vehicle to protest for legislative change through challenging the

Like many writers in the Victorian Age, Elizabeth Barrett Browning used her poetry as a platform to reach a larger audience to bring awareness to contemporary social issues (Greenblatt, “Elizabeth Barrett Browning” pp. 1,123). Common issues that were written about during the Victorian Age included inequality between men and women, child labor and the American abolitionist movement (1,123). According to the first footnote referenced in her poem “The Cry of the Children”, Barrett Browning composed this literary piece in reaction to a report distributed by “a parliamentary commission” following a “government investigation” that had uncovered the mistreatment of child workers; and to

Ground-breaking, momentous, and a time of great struggle, the Industrial Revolution was famous for its innovations and infamous for the sobering reality it inflicted upon the standard family. Mid-18th century Britain brought poverty to everyday urban workers. With it, came an increase in child labor like never seen before. In order for a normal family to survive in the urban lifestyle, all members of a family had to work. This included children as young as four years to work as chimney sweepers, miners, and most popularized in 18th century Britain, factory workers. By the year 1800, children under the age of 14 in Britain’s factories accounted for 50% of the labor force (“Industrial Revolution, Child Labor”). Though the number continued to grow, all did not go unaccounted for. Romanticism, an effort opposite the movement, gave recognition to the emotional conflicts overlooked. Romanticism shed light on the daily struggles of the everyday man, woman, and the most neglected up until that period of time, the child. Throughout history, others have written about childhood, but Romantic poets began to question what it meant to be a child. The question, though not answered directly, later became revealed in their works where it exposed their belief systems. The role of the child in British Romantic Poetry represents the early life of Romantic poets, and the qualities they possessed in childhood.

Good afternoon and welcome to the State Library Series of lectures on poetry and power where we celebrate the contribution of poets to our cultural heritage. My name is Sammy Whitting and today I will focus on a poet who addresses the typically Victorian concern being morality and to more depth, the oppression of children and slavery, among other social injustices through Christian themes. I am speaking of course about one half of the Browning power poet couple, the 19th Century poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning and in particular her poems ‘The Cry of the Children’ and ‘The Runaway Slave at Pilgrims Point’ that both explicitly and directly confront the political issues of slavery and industrialism. Among all women poets of the English speaking world in the 19th Century, none was held in higher critical esteem or was more admired for the independence and courage of her views than Elizabeth Browning. As a women, and an invalid, Elizabeth had comparatively little power so it is interesting that she speaks out for those she perceives to be powerless. Because of this, Elizabeth's poetry demonstrates that whilst this may have been true, the poetic voice itself has the power to advocate for and promote social change.

By and large, the relationship between the artist and his public has not been without discomfort in all ages, and in Victorian England it is most conspicuously so. In fact, as Johnson observes, “nearly all eminent Victorian writers were as often as not at odds with their age.” Their writings, he continues, manifest a kind of tension originating as a result of the author’s allegiance to his aesthetic sensibilities in a modern society which little cares about a life of the creative imagination. Under such strains, the author begins to speak in a faltering tone; his true voice often goes under the mask of conformity, and is communicated only dubiously. Among these Victorian writers is Tennyson, who, as the most leading poet of his time, had to