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During industrialization people increasingly rarely interact with other people and become individualist. They do not care about the problems which happened at
that time in their society. But, there were people in this time that strongly advocated the use or the abolishment of child labor, or at least the improvement of conditions.
One of them is Elizabeth Browning. She is one of the figures whois against the exploitation of children. She wrote this poem as her critic toward government and
English people who did not care about this big social issue which occurred around them. She symbolized them as “my brother” in this poem. The poet asks all English
people to hear the cry of children. As in line below:
Do ye hear the children weeping, O my brothers, Ere the sorrow comes with years?
They are leaning their young heads against their mothers — And that cannot stop their tears.
Stanza I; line 1-4
4.2 The Suffering that Undergone by the Children
4.2.1 Physical Suffering
The treatment of children in factories during industrialization was often cruel and unusual, and the childrens safety was generally neglected. The youngest
children, who were not old enough to work the machines, were commonly sent to be assistants to textile workers. The people who the children served usually beat them,
verbally abuse them, and take no consideration for their safety. Both boys and girls who worked in factories were subject to beatings and other harsh forms of pain
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infliction.Orphans were the ones subject to this slave-like labor. The factory owners justified their absence of payroll by saying that they gave the orphans food, shelter,
and clothing. The children were paid very low.
Working in the area of industry is a risky job. The children were told to clean the machines in the factory, into the underground passage in the mining area and
work to build a railway. They often had an accident at work that caused them badly injured even to death. . Large, heavy, and dangerous equipment was very common
for children to be using or working near. Many accidents injured or killed the children on the job. However, they consider death as a good thing because they can
be free of suffering in the world.
True, say the young children, it may happen That we die before our time
It is good when it happens, say the children, That we die before our time
Stanza IV; line 1,2,11,12
The working condition in the factories during industrial revolution was unsafe, unsanitary and inhumane. Workers were often forced to eat while working,
and dust and dirt contaminated their food. They were not given the proper food during their long hours working. Although the food was often unfit for consumption,
the children ate it due to severe hunger. Condition were dangerous, with some
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children killed when they dozed off and fell into the path of the carts, while others died from gas explosions. Many children developed lung cancer and other diseases
and died before the age of 25. Some lost hands or limbs, others were crushed under the machines, and some were decapitated. Young girls worked at match factories,
where phosphorus fumes would cause many to develop phossy jaw. Children
employed at glassworks were regularly burned and blinded, and those working at potteries were vulnerable to poisonous clay dust.
It is sad to think that these children witnessed other children die before their eyes like little Alice.This part “the grave is shapen like a snowball in the rime”
illustrates once child passed away, the body laid where it fell. The children did not get proper burial and once gone they were forgotten. They died from exhaustion, lack
of food, illness and accident. In part “With your ear down, little Alice never cries Could we see her face, be sure we should not know her,For the smile has time for
growing in her eyes” depicted that the little girl named Alice is dead but she is happier. She is not laboring under harsh conditions any longer. This little girl like so
many before her, are now free from exploitation and suffering they endured. When the children say “It is good when it happens, say the children, That
we die before our time it is their way of saying that dying is okay. They think death is the only way to get out of this harsh reality.
That we die before our time Little Alice died last year — the grave is shapen
Likea snowball, in the rime. We looked into the pit prepared to take her —
Was no room for any work in the close clay: From the sleep wherein she lieth none will wake her,
Crying, ‘Get up, little Alice it is day’.
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If you listen by that grave, in sun and shower, With your ear down, little Alice never cries —
Could we see her face, be sure we should not know her, For the smile has time for growing in her eyes —
And merry go her moments, lulled and stilled in The shroud, by the kirk-chime
It is good when it happens, say the children, That we die before our time
Stanza IV, line:1-12
Workhouses would sell orphan and abandoned children as “pauper apprentices”, working without wages for board or lodging. The children who tried to
ran away would be whipped and return to their master, with some master shackling them to prevent escape. In the other side, the children who had family also cannot do
anything. They want to get out of their misery. They want to get out of the situation they face but they cannot do anything about it. If they stop working, then they will
not be able to help the parent to provide for their families. Theyre just uneducated little kid. Indirectly they have been depended on their livelihood to the capitalists
who have robbed their rights as children. They can only survive even though they were exhausted.
The children said that they are weary, they even cannot run or leap. They are stuck on the place or factory where they are working. The factory owners have
forced and tied their freedom. They get less wage, bad treatment and unfair working time. They are really exploited but they cannot do anything. The oppression and
pressure make them weak. Their eyelids dropping and their face look pale. There are so many children who were sick because of living in bad surrounding. The children
are really hopeless.
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For oh, say the children, we are weary, And we cannot run or leap” They have no time care for any meadow, even if they have time for it they
would like to spend their time to sleep. They are working all day long and have no time to do anything else except working. The children even cannot sleep well.
“If we cared for any meadows, it were merely To drop down in them and sleep”
They want to go out but they are not brave. Their knees are tremble sorely every time they tried to. The children cannot do anything because there is no other
choice. “Our knees tremble sorely in the stooping — We fall upon our faces, trying
to go;” They were so tired. They have no time to see beautiful things because of their
weariness. Even the reddest flower would look as pale as snow in their eyes. “And, underneath our heavy eyelids drooping, The reddest flower would look
as pale as snow” For oh, say the children, we are weary,
And we cannot run or leap — If we cared for any meadows, it were merely
To drop down in them and sleep. Our knees tremble sorely in the stooping —
We fall upon our faces, trying to go; And, underneath our heavy eyelids drooping,
The reddest flower would look as pale as snow Stanza VI; line 1-8
The children were in horrible condition. They cannot see the sunshine because they have to work before the sun is rising until the night. They were who
worked at coal mining could not see outside because they are working underground and they are who worked at factory were caged in the factory building. Children
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were afraid and they got headache of hearing the sound of the turning wheels. They prayed and hoped that the noise could be stopped just for a moment, but sometimes
their praying breaking out in a mad moaning and said ‘O ye wheels’ ‘Stopbe silent for to-day’
For, all day, the wheels are droning, turning — Their wind comes in our faces —
Till our hearts turn — our heads, with pulses burning, And the walls turn in their places —
Turns the sky in the high window blank and reeling — Turns the long light that droppeth down the wall —
Turn the black flies that crawl along the ceiling — All are turning, all the day, and we with all —
And all day, the iron wheels are droning; And sometimes we could pray,
‘O ye wheels’ breaking out in a mad moaning, ‘Stopbe silent for to-day’
Stanza VII
4.2.2 Mental Suffering
