Analysis of The Song of the Shirt
Thomas Hood 1799 (London) – 1845 (London)
The Song of the Shirt
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat, in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread--
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang the "Song of the Shirt."
"Work! work! work!
While the cock is crowing aloof!
And work — work — work,
Till the stars shine through the roof!
It's Oh! to be a slave
Along with the barbarous Turk,
Where woman has never a soul to save,
If this is Christian work!
"Work — work — work
Till the brain begins to swim;
Work — work — work
Till the eyes are heavy and dim!
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Till over the buttons I fall asleep,
And sew them on in a dream!
"Oh, Men, with Sisters dear!
Oh, Men, with Mothers and Wives!
It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human creatures' lives!
Stitch — stitch — stitch,
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
Sewing at once with a double thread,
A Shroud as well as a Shirt.
But why do I talk of Death?
That Phantom of grisly bone,
I hardly fear its terrible shape,
It seems so like my own —
It seems so like my own,
Because of the fasts I keep;
Oh, God! that bread should be so dear,
And flesh and blood so cheap!
"Work — work — work!
My Labour never flags;
And what are its wages? A bed of straw,
A crust of bread — and rags.
That shatter'd roof — and this naked floor —
A table — a broken chair —
And a wall so blank, my shadow I thank
For sometimes falling there!
"Work — work — work!
From weary chime to chime,
Work — work — work!
As prisoners work for crime!
Band, and gusset, and seam,
Seam, and gusset, and band,
Till the heart is sick, and the brain benumb'd,
As well as the weary hand.
"Work — work — work,
In the dull December light,
And work — work — work,
When the weather is warm and bright —
While underneath the eaves
The brooding swallows cling
As if to show me their sunny backs
And twit me with the spring.
Oh! but to breathe the breath
Of the cowslip and primrose sweet —
With the sky above my head,
And the grass beneath my feet
For only one short hour
To feel as I used to feel,
Before I knew the woes of want
And the walk that costs a meal!
Oh! but for one short hour!
A respite however brief!
No blessed leisure for Love or Hope,
But only time for Grief!
A little weeping would ease my heart,
But in their briny bed
My tears must stop, for every drop
Hinders needle and thread!"
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread —
Stitch! stitch! stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch, —
Would that its tone could reach the Rich! —
She sang this "Song of the Shirt!"
Scheme | a BCDCEAEa fgFghfhf FiFiJKlk mxxxeAca noxOOlml Fdxdxpxp FqFqKJaj FrFrxsxs ntctuvxv uwxwxcxc BCDCEAEea |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Tetractys (22%) |
Metre | 01101 1101001 111001 0101011 1001001 111 01001001 01101111 1101101 111 10111001 0111 1011101 111101 01101001 1101100111 111101 111 1010111 111 10111001 10101 10101 1100101101 0111001 111101 1111001 111101101 110101 111 01001001 101110101 0111101 1111111 1101101 110111001 111111 111111 0110111 11111111 010111 111 11101 0111100111 011101 110101101 0100101 001111111 101101 111 110111 111 1100111 10101 10101 101110011 1110101 111 0010101 0111 10101101 10101 010101 111111101 011101 111101 1010011 1010111 0010111 1101110 1111111 01110111 0011101 1111110 010101 11101111 110111 010101111 10111 111111001 101001 1101001 111001 0101011 1001001 111 01001001 01101111 11111101 1111101 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 2,870 |
Words | 540 |
Sentences | 42 |
Stanzas | 12 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 9 |
Lines Amount | 90 |
Letters per line (avg) | 22 |
Words per line (avg) | 6 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 168 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 45 |
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Submitted on May 13, 2011
Modified on April 29, 2023
- 2:42 min read
- 137 Views
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"The Song of the Shirt" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 27 Apr. 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/36704/the-song-of-the-shirt>.
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