Elizabeth Barrett Browning 2
Over 150 years later, the same situation exists. Light was not exactly shed in the problems of child labor in the mid-1800's. Soon, authors like Elizabeth Barrett Browning stepped to the forefront and raised public awareness for the deplorable conditions child laborers were subjected to. When government investigations into child labor revealed the rampant exploitation of children, Browning responded with a poem created in sympathy, taking the form of her 1843 poem, "The Cry of the Children." With this poem, Browning worked to make the plight of the young workers known. She gave them a voice, loud and clear, where they previously had none. In her poem, Browning worked to express not simply the injustices dealt to the children or the conditions they endured, rather she worked to express the feelings of despair and bewilderment the child laborers were suffering. The third stanza from "The Cry of the Children" represents the exact conditions that Browning wants her audience to be horrified and touched by. Browning paints a clean picture for her audience so that they do not simply read the words, but also visualize them. With the mental picture of children "looking up with. . . pale and shrunken faces
This theme of impending death is then carried on throughout the stanza. The young children speak directly to the audience, conveying their own feelings about their labors. Browning paints an ironic picture of the children who are happy to receive death. While both appear/feel as though they are near death, the children "ask the aged why they weep." The irony is that the children do not weep at the thought of death despite living incomplete lives, yet the adults who live much more complete lives are crying. This disturbing acceptance of their own death, by the children is foiled by the tears and upset displayed by those elderly adults who have lived fuller lives and now face their own death. Both the immaturity of the elderly people in their response to death, and their fortuitousness of their impending death is the perspective of the children, is highlighted by the children's reactions to and their desire for their own deaths. From the perspective of the children, the adults are lucky to be able to die, and the children are jealous of that. The children are portrayed by Browning as so exhausted by the efforts of their short lives that they are actually looking forward to their own deaths. This wish for a swift death, too, is dashed, as they know that "our grave-rest is very far to seek." Browning uses this imagery of death to evoke a feeling of horror from her audience. It is unbelievable that children could even think of dying, much less hope to die. The shocking realization of children desiring their own death is followed, however, with the knowledge that the children still have a long time to work and suffer before they get to rest. Browning t
Some common words found in the essay are:
Cry Children, Barrett Browning, Child Labor, child labor, own death, own deaths, browning paints, child laborers, cry children, poem browning, impending death, death children, children children,
Approximate Word count = 1128
Approximate Pages = 5 (250 words per page double spaced)
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