“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Introduction

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“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Summary

“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Themes

• 

  Class, Poverty, and Injustice

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Line-by-Line Explanation & Analysis of “The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)”

• Lines 1-6

  When winter's rage upon the cottage falls,
  And the wind rushes through the gaping walls,
  When ninepence must their daily wants supply,
  With hunger pinched and cold, the children cry;
  The gathered sticks but little warmth afford,
  And half-supplied the platter meets the board.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 7-14

  Returned at night, if wholesome viands fail,
  He from the pipe extracts a smoky meal:
  And when, to gather strength and still his woes,
  He seeks his last redress in soft repose,
  The tattered blanket, erst the fleas' retreat,
  Denies his shiv'ring limbs sufficient heat;
  Teased with the squalling babes' nocturnal cries,
  He restless on the dusty pillow lies.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 15-20

  But when pale sickness wounds with direful blow,
  Words but imperfectly his mis'ry show;
  Unskilful how to treat the fierce disease,
  Well-meaning ignorance curtails our days.
  In a dark room and miserable bed
  Together lie the living and the dead.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 21-26

  Oh shocking scene! Fate sweeps whole tribes away,
  And frees the parish of th' reluctant pay!
  Where's the physician now, whom heav'n ordains
  Fate to arrest, and check corroding pains?
  Or he's detained by those of high degree,
  Or won't prescribe without a golden fee.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 27-32

  But should old age bring on its rev'rend hoar,
  When strength decayed admits his toil no more,
  He begs itinerant, with halting pace,
  And, mournful, tells his melancholy case,
  With meagre cheek and formidable beard,
  A tattered dress of various rags prepared.

  

  

  

  

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• Lines 33-36

  Base covetise, who wants the soul to give,
  Directs the road where richer neighbours live;
  And pride, unmindful of its parent dust,
  Scares with the dungeon and the whipping-post.

  

  

  

  

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“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Poetic Devices & Figurative Language

• Imagery

  

  

  

  

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• Metaphor

  

  

  

  

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• Anaphora

  

  

  

  

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• Alliteration

  

  

  

  

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“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” 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.

• Gaping
• Afford
• Half-supplied the platter meets the board
• Wholesome viands
• Still
• Redress
• Erst the fleas' retreat
• Teased
• Squalling
• Direful
• Unskilful how to treat the fierce disease
• Curtails
• Frees the parish of th' reluctant pay
• Ordains
• Check
• Corroding
• Detained
• High degree
• Golden fee
• Rev'rend
• Hoar
• Strength decayed admits his toil no more
• Itinerant
• Halting pace
• Meagre
• Formidable
• Base
• Covetise
• Wants
• Unmindful

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Form, Meter, & Rhyme Scheme of “The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)”

• Form

• Meter

• Rhyme Scheme

“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Speaker

“The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Setting

Literary and Historical Context of “The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)”

More “The Complaints of Poverty (Excerpt)” Resources

• External Resources

  • Poems on Several Occasions — Take a look at a few pages from Poems on Several Occasions, the collection in which this poem appeared.

  • Poverty in James's Britain — Learn more about the very real problem of poverty in James's 18th-century world.

  • More of the Poem — Read a longer excerpt from "The Complaints of Poverty" (including James's remarks on what a life of poverty does to people's relationships and morality).