Sunday, May 1, 2011

"The Golf Links" by Sarah N. Cleghorn

The power of this poem comes from the irony of its subject matter along with its resemblance to nursery rhymes.

According to the years Sarah N. Cleghorn lived, this poem almost assuredly centers on the child labor that resulted from the American Industrial Revolution in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. However, the poem still has meaning today, for corporate heads still live lives of leisure while exploiting poor children in less developed countries, mainly in sweatshops. The irony of this concept is blatant and rather infuriating: it is an almost demanded quality of the middle and lower classes to be offended and angered by the often exploitative and corrupt actions of the upper class. Also, you'd be hard pressed to find any person that admits (or at least openly admits) to condoning child slavery or labor. However, the irony doesn't stem from these infuriating aspects of the poem; it exists within the reversal of the traditional societal roles of children and adults. That men should play while children labor is a foreign concept, which causes readers to pause and examine how they really feel about the treatment of children in certain areas and whether their own actions benefit or hurt these unfortunate souls.

As for the power of a somewhat nursery-rhyme format (a quatrain with ABCB rhyme scheme), it has a similar effect to how "For a Lady I Know" by Countee Cullen uses the format (which I discussed in an earlier blog). The lighthearted nature of this poem style illustrates the resignation children in the described situation feel; it exemplifies their acceptance of their role and depression at the fact that many have come before them and many will after as the trend of child labor has become a fact of their lives and society.

1 comment:

  1. This is great, Conrad. You've genuinely analyzed a poem that others have considered too simple and straightforward to say much about. Very nice!

    ReplyDelete