Sarah Norcliffe Cleghorn was born in 1876 and died at the age of 83. She was an American Naturalist. She lived in Vermont for most of her life and wrote most of her poems to teach people. Her most famous and widely read poems is "The Golf Links Lie So Near the Mill."
The golf links lie so near the mill
That almost every day
The laboring children can look out
And see the men at play.
Clearly, this poem is extremely short and concise and is written in an ABCB rhyme scheme. When a poem is this short, every word in the poem is chosen for a specific reason even if it doesn't seem like it. However, this small poem contains a large social message and is actually a satire. "The golf links" that "lie so near the mill" shows the economic contrast. The golf links represent the upper class and the wealth where only those with tons of money and loads of spare time are able to play. It seems a bit strange to the reader that these golf links are so close to the mill, a place where people work long arduous hours for very little wage. Every day the workers in the mill look out at the golfers. In this context, the phrase "every day" seems to have a negative connotation as if the laborers are working and working endlessly. The most powerful message comes out in the last two and ironic lines of the poem. It says how "The laboring children can look out/And see the men at play." Shouldn't it be the other way around? The children should be out playing in the fields while the men are at work attempting to support the family. During Sarah's life, child labor laws were a very controversial topic. She is commenting on how those who work hard get nowhere in society while the ones who have no responsibility have the wealth and the power.
This poem is very powerful. I first read it as a boy, and it has stuck with me ever since. Capitalism without heart is a moral disaster. It was true in the 19th century, and it is true today.
ReplyDeleteThere is no such thing as moral capitalism!
ReplyDeleteAgreed!
DeleteOn the other hand, genocidal is the only kind of socialism there is.
DeleteI use this poem to try and teach republicans how wrong they are about regulations. A near impossible task.
ReplyDeleteI have the poem on a Progressive Era photo of a young girl (11-12?) staring out the window next to a carding machine in a textile factory. It was my father's favorite poem and he taught me the values embodied in the image next to the poem. It fits American socio-economic life right to this very day in 2019!
ReplyDeleteCapitalism has lifted more people out of poverty than any other economic system in the history of the world. Many teens and children worked in the 19th century to help support their mothers and siblings if their fathers died or were unable to work due to injury. Children have worked throughout most of history, most notably helping their families on farms. But many worked alongside parents in trades or in industrial homework. I myself started working in 1988 at age 9 with a lawn mowing business my dad helped me start. I learned about business and developed a work ethic that has stuck with me to this day.
ReplyDeleteIf you study the history, child labor laws in the U.S. were pushed through by both Republicans and Democrats, and were largely passed as a result of trade unions attempting to crowd out low paying, non-union labor rather than out of compassion for children subjected to the horrors of earning a dollar for themselves and their families.
THANK YOU
ReplyDeleteIt isn't capitalism that is bad, it is bad capitalists.
ReplyDeleteIt isn't socialism hat is bad, it is bad socialists.
Until the hearts of men - and women - are changed, poems like this will have to be written.
So much to learn
ReplyDeleteEvery year I taught a unit to my grade nine English students based on the issues raised in this poem. So much grit in so few words!
ReplyDeleteIt’s no mistake that the golf links and the mill lie so close to each other. This speaks figuratively to the need for the privileged class to keep an eye on their money. Think - what do the men see, if anything at all? Broken windows and smoke. Not the children labouring in the near dark within. “Almost every day” speaks to the opportunity of choice which is offered to the wealthy, but denied the poor. The men can choose some other pass time if they wish or if the weather is inclement. The children have no such choice.