"Surplus Value" is a poem from David C. Ward's 2011 collection Internal Difference. It tells the story of the speaker's brother-in-law, an auto machinist whose comfortable life goes south when the Detroit auto boom collapses. At first, the machinist seems to be living the American Dream, but this dream turns out to have shaky foundations: he loses his "steady pay check," has to sell off prize possessions, and grows increasingly exploited and depressed. The poem links his ordeal to a broader story of worker exploitation, ecological destruction, and regional decline. The title "Surplus Value" alludes to a key term from Karl Marx's anti-capitalist writings, and the poem itself offers a harsh portrayal of industrial capitalism, including the boom-and-bust cycles that devastate both workers and their surrounding environments.

• Read the full text of “Surplus Value”

• “Surplus Value” Summary

• “Surplus Value” Themes

  • 

    Capitalism and Worker Exploitation

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-23
  • 

    Labor, Pride, and Shame

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 9-12
    • Lines 21-23
  • 

    Human Industry vs. the Environment

    Where this theme appears in the poem:

    • Lines 24-27

• Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “Surplus Value”

  • Lines 1-5

    My Michigan brother-in-law ...
    ... mostly built himself.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 6-11

    During the heyday ...
    ... America to drive.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 12-17

    For twenty years ...
    ... Share.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 17-21

    The work was ...
    ... essentials, nothing more.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 21-23

    Always quiet, he ...
    ... now, and inward.

    

    

    

    

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  • Lines 24-27

    During the boom ...
    ... all year long.

    

    

    

    

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• “Surplus Value” Symbols

  • 

    The Frozen River

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Lines 24-27: “During the boom that no one thought would end, / Heedless the factories flushed their waste straight into / The Saginaw River, so much so that it never iced, even / In the depths of winter. Now it's frozen all year long.”
  • 

    The Scars

    Where this symbol appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “A bantam with thick fingers, scarred hands”
    • Line 23: “Bowing his neck each day as the scars grew deeper now, and inward.”

• “Surplus Value” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

  • Metaphor

    

    

    

    

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    Where metaphor appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “A bantam with thick fingers,”
    • Lines 10-11: “Building something bigger than the Fords or Chevys / He pushed on down the line for America to drive.”
    • Line 13: “But that road ran out.”
    • Lines 15-16: “The companies and their money men slashed and burned / Their way through labor and its costs”
    • Line 23: “Bowing his neck each day as the scars grew deeper now, and inward.”

  • Imagery

    

    

    

    

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    Where imagery appears in the poem:

    • Line 3: “A bantam with thick fingers, scarred hands”
    • Line 17: “The work was sweated from the men for less and less return.”
    • Lines 21-23: “Always quiet, he grew quieter / From day to week to month to the years that stretched ahead, / Bowing his neck each day as the scars grew deeper now, and inward.”
    • Lines 25-27: “Heedless the factories flushed their waste straight into / The Saginaw River, so much so that it never iced, even / In the depths of winter. Now it's frozen all year long.”

  • Caesura

    

    

    

    

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    Where caesura appears in the poem:

    • Line 2: “machinist, fabricating”
    • Line 3: “makers. A”
    • Line 4: “soft-tail, drank,” “City, and”
    • Line 6: “metal, overtime”
    • Line 9: “fall. He”
    • Line 12: “work, good,” “times, and”
    • Line 13: “out. The”
    • Line 14: “fraud; indictments; prison,” “terms) and”
    • Line 17: “Share. The”
    • Line 18: “scale, to,” “scarcity: subcontracting, piecework,”
    • Line 20: “year. The,” “cabin; food”
    • Line 21: “essentials, nothing,” “more. Always,” “quiet, he”
    • Line 23: “now, and”
    • Line 26: “River, so,” “iced, even”
    • Line 27: “winter. Now”

  • Asyndeton

    

    

    

    

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    Where asyndeton appears in the poem:

    • Line 14: “(pension fraud; indictments; prison terms)”
    • Line 18: “subcontracting, piecework,”

  • Juxtaposition

    

    

    

    

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    Where juxtaposition appears in the poem:

    • Lines 1-27

• “Surplus Value” Vocabulary

  Select any word below to get its definition in the context of the poem. The words are listed in the order in which they appear in the poem.

  • Surplus value
  • Tool and die guy
  • Machinist
  • Big Three auto makers
  • Bantam
  • Harley soft-tail
  • Iron City
  • Detroit metal
  • Indictments
  • Pension fraud
  • Economy of scale
  • Subcontracting
  • Piecework
  • The dole
  • Food stamps
  • Heedless
  • The Saginaw River
  • (Location in poem: )

• Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “Surplus Value”

  • Form

  • Meter

  • Rhyme Scheme

• “Surplus Value” Speaker

• “Surplus Value” Setting

• Literary and Historical Context of “Surplus Value”

• More “Surplus Value” Resources

  • External Resources

    • How the Poet Came to Poetry — A Smithsonian Magazine article on Ward's career as both historian and poet.

    • The Poet as Historian — Ward's bio at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., where he works as a historian and curator.

    • Ward on Video — Watch Ward's introduction to an exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery.

    • A History of "Motor City" — Background on the rise and decline of the auto industry in Detroit, Michigan.

    • What is Surplus Value? — An explanation of the term in the poem's title.

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