How Is Elizabeth Barrett Browning's Diction In 'The Cry Of The Children'?

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, married to poet Robert Browning, was a very prominent poet during the Victorian Era. Although she has written countless love poems, she had “established herself as a woman who was never afraid to express her views on contemporary social and political issues, a position which often marked her out as unconventional and combative” (Avery). Her fearless attitude poured through her poems, and as a result she influences people across the world, most famously Emily Dickinson, who idolized Browning and her achievements (“Elizabeth Barrett Browning”). Browning was unlike most women poets of the time period, and was “never afraid to draw attention to what she saw as the problems of state politics or the manipulation of religion to ‘justify’ intolerance or oppression” (Avery). Browning used her gift of writing to provoke questions and create change within her community, and

She constantly juxtaposed words of speech and silence, such as “say the children”, “ask”, “sing”, “silent”, and “speechless” showing how the voices and concerns of the children were disregarded and considered unimportant (Herbert “The Cry of the Children”). “The hopelessness of the children’s plight is partially caused by their inability to be heard or to express themselves. They are oppressed and exploited because they are not authorized to speak. In the end, even God is unable to hear their feeble attempts at prayer” (Herbert “Elizabeth Barrett Browning”). In addition to the silence, Browning adds emotion to show the working children as distressed and give the reader a sense of remorse. Browning describes the children as “weeping bitterly!” and “look[ing] up with their pale and sunken faces” with looks “sad to see” in order to inspire her audience to make a difference in the lives of these overworked, underappreciated