Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “The Cry of the Children” addresses multiple Victorian ideals and values. This poem’s main purpose is to bring awareness to the brutality of child labor, which coincides with the Victorian ideal of reform in society. Throughout this poem Browning also shows aspect regarding crisis in faith, and that of not having full trust in God. Although Browning has aspects of Victorian ideals, she does oppose one, that being reason. This poem is extremely based upon emotion, instead of reason.
“The Cry of the Children” is a poem about child labor, particularly the hardships of that labor. Through this poem, Browning bringing awareness to child labor which encourages reform. One of Browning’s most powerful illustration in this poem is when she writes about the children playing in the meadow, “Pluck your handfuls of the meadow-cowslips pretty / Laugh aloud, to feel your fingers let them through!” (112). This quotation is describing what a child should do while playing in a meadow. However, in the next stanza Browning writes how the children in child labor think of meadows, “ ‘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.’” (112). The reason that this is such a powerful section in the poem is, the reader is able to see the difference in these sets of children. The comparison also brings to mind that the children in child labor are not able to enjoy their lives like a normal child should.
This poem also addresses the Victorian ideal, crisis in faith. While Browning is displaying the hardships of child labor, she also addresses a lack of faith in this poem. In the eleventh stanza Browning describes the children asking for God’s help, “‘Our Father!’ If He heard us, He would surely / (For they call Him good and mild) / Answer, smiling down the steep world very purely, / ‘Come and rest with me, my child.’” (113). This quotation appears to have extreme trust in God, but in the next stanza she refutes that faith. Instead of the children having faith in God, they seem to feel abandoned by God, “ ‘But no!’ say the children, weeping faster, / ‘He is speechless as a stone: / And they tell us, of His image is the master / Who commands us to work on.” (113). The way that the children feel about God reflects the crisis in faith that is part of the Victorian ideals. The children do not trust God, because he is not helping them, as they have been told he would, as Browning wrote in the previous stanza.
In this poem Browning does address Victorian ideals. However, she does go against the ideal of reason. Although the Victorians believed in reason over emotions, this poem relays heavily on emotions. One of the moments that is extremely emotional is when Browning writes about Little Alice dyeing, “From the sleep wherein she lieth none will wake her, / Crying, ‘Get up, Little Alice! It is day.’ / If you listen by that grave, in sun and shower, / With your ear down, little Alice never cries;” (111). The reason that this part of the poem is so emotional is because all before this point and after this point, Browning is writing how much the children cry. However, when Little Alice dies, she is no longer crying, which implies the only relief for the children is death. The use of emotion brings more awareness to the brutality of child labor and helps further push for reform regarding child labor.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s “The Cry of the Children” is a poem that is influence by Victorian ideals and values, particularly reform and the crisis in faith. These values are represented throughout this poem and help push for awareness and reform for child labor. Although Browning does represent Victorian values, she doesn’t represent reason. Instead she uses high emotions throughout the whole poem, in order to allow the readers to feel the pain that the children who are in child labor feel.
