More handpicked essays just for you.
The history of the portrayal of women in literature
Treatment of women in literature
The history of the portrayal of women in literature
Don’t take our word for it - see why 10 million students trust us with their essay needs.
“They have never seen the sunshine, nor the glory/ which is brighter than the sun they know the grief of man, without it wisdom/ they sink in man’s despair, without its calm;/ Are slaves without the liberty in Christdom/ Are martyrs, by the pang without the palm.” (Browning 1127) After reading “The cry of the children” one might come to think that this poem is about the harsh conditions facing children during the industrial revolution and in the coalmines and factories in which they were working. However, if you dig a little deeper and spend more time in this text you begin to realize, that “The cry of the children” might be about more than children and working conditions. It begins at the beginning when Browning starts discussing “leaning their young heads against their mothers” (Browning 1124) comparing the children to nature and the effects of men on their working and daily lives. Which makes us believe that this story is about not only work conditions for children, but women as well, and the social unjust that women and children faced during their lives in the Industrial Revolution.
This poem speaks about children in the literal sense. Browning uses children to describe harsh conditions and uses these children’s feelings to really connect with her audience and to really connect the reader to these factories and coalmines, as if you were their working with these children. Browning says in the poem, “They are weeping in the playtime of others, / in the country of the free.” (Browning 1124) Browning was expressing her feelings towards child labor, and the treatment of these children under these circumstances. Browning also uses men a lot in this poem, almost degrading them. Browning was a feminist and she thought the way that t...
... middle of paper ...
...rrett was a bookish, sheltered, uppermiddle-class unmarried woman far removed from the scenes she was describing, she gives evidence here of her passionate concern for human rights("Elizabeth Barrett Browning"). Women and children were treated unfair in all ways, and it becomes obvious that Browning highly rejects it.
Works Cited
"Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Poetryfoundation.org. Poetry Foundation. Web. 10 Mar 2014.
Isaacs, Jason. "Women’s issues and aurora leigh."victorianweb.org. Victorianweb, n.d. Web. 10 Mar 2014.
Renfroe , Erin. "Erin's Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s page." CSWNET. N.p.. Web. 12 Mar 2014.
"Elizabeth Barrett Browning." Poets.org. N.p.. Web. 12 Mar 2014. .
Barrett Browning, Elizabeth. The cry of the children. 9th edition. E. New York, New York: W.W. Norton & Company INC. , 2012. 1124-1128. Print.
The idea of the innocence having been created or forced to exist is lost as the poem focuses on the children and how innocent they are. This stands out particularly in the second stanza which uses end rhyme and repetition to underline just how many children seemed to be going into the church. It is also in that same stanza that the children are referred to as lambs, which is a common symbol for innocence. It is not simply the multitudes of children, but the multitudes of the innocent that have been gathered. ...
When the poem is read aloud, the explicit rhyme and rhythm of the lines becomes extremely obvious. In fact, the bouncy rhythm is so uplifting, it occasionally makes the audiences feel like it is too predictable and straight-forward. An example would be “bright with chrysolite”, the word “chrysolite” feels like it is forcefully implemented for the sake of the rhyme. This is somewhat similar to a children’s tale. Most children’s tale as we know it, conveys messages straightforwardly and are easily understood by children, it also has an amiable tone and a merry mood that engages the children 's attention. Similarly, the rhyme and rhythm of this poem is very obvious and explicit, creating a delightful, casual mood that appeals to a young audience. Even though the legend dealt with deep insights about parenting that are intricate and puzzling, the father delivered it in such a gratifying, simple manner that made even the most dark and dreadful matters: like the description of precarious beasts and vicious monsters to sound like a blissful adventure of friendly animals. The sole purpose of this contradiction between the tone and message is to make this seemingly strong and serious topic more tolerable and captivating to the son of the father. Unsensible, impulsive youth is very similar to restless children, a long insipid lecture about deep insights is very difficult for them to buy into. In the same time, a harsh, threatening warning will only make them obey unwillingly, and creating a doubtful relationship will make them uncomfortable to communicate or appeal to their parents. Clearly, the percipient father recognized the ineffectiveness of these unsuitable parenting methods. Instead, he conveyed the message in a uncomplicated, friendly way that made his son to accept his teachings more comfortably. A
Imagine families waking up on their kid’s sixth birthday and having to head towards the nearest cotton mill instead of going out and celebrating the occasion. All over the country kids of different ages were working in the same unsafe conditions as adults to help their family earn money. Florence Kelley’s speech was to fight for better working conditions and child labor laws in the early 1900’s. At this time each state had distinct laws about the work requirements. The author uses various forms of rhetorical devices such as pathos, personifications, and repetition throughout the speech to gain the audience’s support.
The fact that they feel they can sit about the knee of their mother, in this stereotypical image of a happy family doesn’t suggest that the children in this poem are oppressed... ... middle of paper ... ... y has a negative view of the childish desire for play which clearly has an effect on the children. The fact that they the are whispering shows that they are afraid of the nurse, and that they cannot express their true thoughts and desires freely, which is why they whisper, and therefore shows that Blake feels that children are oppressed. I feel that the two poems from innocence which are ‘The Echoing Green,’ and ‘The Nurses Song,’ display Blake’s ideological view of country life which I referred to in my introduction, and show his desire for childhood to be enjoyed.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was a talented writer and over the years her stories and poems has not changed. Including the poem ‘The Cry of the Children’ but yet from now and then everyone’s views on the poem has changed in different ways such as the sentimental values and the religious views. Alethea Hayter, a modern critic, said she found that the poem was way too religious for the modern audience. Angela Leighton said after she read it she would think that the modern audience would see it as “propagandist ically tear-jerking poem” (Henry). Elizabeth Barrett Browning, while being one of the more talented victorian poets, wrote a poem ‘The Cry of the Children’ that modern critics do not really agree with apposed to critics from earlier times. What in the poem is looked at so differently that we now have disagreements.
During the New Industrial Age in America, many aspects of American life were in flux. People were moving from rural areas to large population centres and factories were booming. This was also when America started to become an extremely capitalist country, with values to match. The economy was set up in a way that lower class Americans struggled to make a living, and as such child labour came into play. Children would work in factories that had conditions barely suitable for adults, let alone still developing children. They had to do this because it was necessary for their families to have whatever extra money they could get their hands on. All the while, upper class Americans were profiting off of the children’s suffering and amassing wealth
Elizabeth Browning was a great and famous writer of her time. She put in what she has gone through with her emotions and how she felt of the issue and plugged it into her dairy that now people of our society read now. She was a great inspiration to many other writers and artist of her time period. In my opinion, I believe she describe her feeling so well and not a lot of great people have the gift to express herself like she did in her work.
The kids under the age of fourteen were sent to go assist with the textile workers. They then would beat and verbally abuse the child. And if children would show up late, they would be weighted. Weighted means to put a very heavy weight on the child's back and have them walk up and down the factory aisles for hours, so other children can learn from it. This then resulted in back and neck injuries. (“Child Labor in Factories”) While this all seems really cruel, there were many positives that came out of child labor. Children were still able to contribute to their families. Money was a big struggle, and it had a major impact for poor families. Children were also getting a wide range of opportunities and work experiences for the future ahead. Although it might not be the best way to get experience, they were still helping out there families and showing respect towards them. This shows that during the Industrial Revolution, children were used harshly for labor, and the positives and negatives out of
Many people hated the way many of the children had to work in unsafe conditions and not get an education. Many advocates spoke up to stop child labor, such as Grace Abbott. Abbott protected the incoming immigrants and children from being in those kind of conditions (Hobbs,1). The factory owners hated this kind of act because this made them lose the children workers. What the advocates hated the most was how the children were treated. The owners treated the children the same as the slaves. The children thought the same to they thought they were just property not actual living
Katherine Mansfield belongs to a group of female authors that have used their financial resources and social standing to critique the patriarchal status quo. Like Virginia Woolf, Mansfield was socioeconomically privileged enough to write influential texts that have been deemed as ‘proto-feminist’ before the initial feminist movements. The progressive era in which Mansfield writes proves to be especially problematic because, “[w]hile the Modernist tradition typically undermined middle-class values, women … did not have the recognized rights necessary to fully embrace the liberation from the[se] values” (Martin 69). Her short stories emphasized particular facets of female oppression, ranging from gendered social inequality to economic classism, and it is apparent that “[p]oor or rich, single or married, Mansfield’s women characters are all victims of their society” (Aihong 101). Mansfield’s short stories, “The Garden Party” and “Miss Brill”, represent the feminist struggle to identify traditional patriarchy as an inherent caste system in modernity. This notion is exemplified through the social bonds women create, the naïve innocence associated with the upper classes, and the purposeful dehumanization of women through oppressive patriarchal methods. By examining the female characters in “The Garden Party” and “Miss Brill”, it is evident that their relationships with other characters and themselves notify the reader of their encultured classist preconceptions, which is beneficial to analyze before discussing the sources of oppression.
During the Romantic Period from 1785-1832, when Blake wrote these poems, child labor and slavery was common. In both poems, poverty was conveyed, in Songs of Innocence, Blake described, “So your chimneys I sweep, and in soot I sleep” which signified his loss of innocence. However, Blake’s message in Songs of Experience conveyed to the reader that chimney sweeping was a dangerous profession and lead to early death, “They clothed me in the clothes of death.”
Blake's portrayal of childhood is far from happy. A small child's mother dies while that child is still very young; this is sad but not all together strange. However the child's father then, very soon after, sells him off to be a chimney sweeper. Blake does not stop here; after a description these children's living conditions few emotions are left except for pity. As Americans living in the twenty first century, this all seams very strange. We see childhood as a time of joy, and innocence; a time to embrace, and to not let slip by too fast. We see childhood as Robert Frost does.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning was one of the braver literary pioneers. Choosing to utilize the vocabulary she favored rather than submit to the harsh criticisms of those who held the power to make or break her is an applaudable novelty about her. Many writers, having been successful in their literary exploits, are susceptible to accusations that their work was catered to critics. Surely, this cannot and should not be said of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own” (Blake, 123) The child is the symbol of the most fragile and brave components in the human mind. The characteristics of Romanticism are shown in his poems, for example the sense of wonder and the contemplation of Nature through fresh eyes. Everything that a child sees is mystery and beauty and goodness. The words in these poems fit the thought because he poems are simple. The “Songs of Innocence” most completely covers the definition of Romanticism. In this book, Blake deals with themes of experience and innocence, and on bigger Romantic themes is nature, the body, and sublime. The world of Nature and man full of love and beauty and innocence enjoyed by a happy child. In spite of his powerful emotions and his rare ideas, Blake keeps his structure perfectly clear and
In the poem, “The Chimney Sweeper” by William Blake, the author attempts to educate the reader about the horrors experienced by young children who are forced into labor at an early age cleaning chimneys for the wealthy. The poem begins with a young boy who has lost his mother but has no time to properly grieve because his father has sold him into a life of filth and despair. The child weeps not only for the loss of his mother and father’s betrayal, but also for the loss of his childhood and innocence. Blake uses poetry in an attempt to provoke outrage over the inhumane and dangerous practice of exploiting children and attempts to shine a light on the plight of the children by appealing to the reader’s conscience in order to free the children from their nightmare existence. Right away in the first lines of the poem we learn through the child narrator that his life is about to change dramatically for the worse.