We've had a lot of readings up to now that made passing references to laborers, peasants, working people, "the mob," "the crowd," and of course, we've had the depiction of urban criminals in The Beggar's Opera.
The Thresher's Labour is something completely different: a poem written by an honest-to-God rural laborer, who became sufficiently educated to write these heroic couplets about his work. It was published and circulated widely--drawing enough interest to earn Duck the patronage of Queen Anne and, ultimately, a sinecure at court. He went on to publish more poetry, but he is largely remembered in the C20/21 for this, his first major work.
Respond to this post by answering one of the questions below:
1. What is the tone of this poem overall? What kind of attitude does Duck express towards his laboring life?
2. How does Duck use neoclassical images or allusions? Identify and analyze one instance of such an allusion.
3. How does Duck organize this poem? What key shifts or divisions can you identify that give the poem shape and direction?
As always, cite some lines to defend your claim.
Deadline: Monday (11/2), start of class.
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5 comments:
The tone of the piece is definitely a sort of attempted humility that turns into immense pride. The speaker in the poem tries to present a sort of humility by describing all of the hard labor that he partakes in. He goes on to describe his tedious days working on the farm and the back breaking labor that tires him out day after day. He uses such language as "when the scorching sun is mounted high..." (line 120) and "And, hero-like, each claims the foremost place." However, the way he regards his role as a farmer is somewhat of a hero, someone who goes through the toils for the good of the people. So therefore, the tone of humility that the speaker is trying to create is wiped out to a new tone of pride.
(2) Duck alludes to various mythological figures in his story. He compares the working man to Sisyphus (line 283), and continues to emphasize not only the amount of work he must do but how hard it is. This seems slightly odd because he does reap certain benefits from working hard--rest at night, money, food from harvesting, beer from his master. The myth of Sisyphus is a man constantly pushing a boulder up a hill only to let it roll down again; a useless action meant to serve as eternal punishment. The comparison to this (and to how Hercules has never felt such hard work as he in line 258) is a little overkill. Not only is his work so useless, it's used as a punishment in Hell, but even the man who had to perform amazing feats to become immortal had it easier? The combination of these two images portrays the working man as a victim and his life in a very negative tone.
Duck's invocation of the muse (which we see in the first 12 lines of the poem) is a pretty standard convention in most classical epics, including Homer's "The Odyssey" and Virgil's "Aeneid", though Duck's familiarity with this convention might more than likely be a result of his reading Milton and other authors writing in English. Interestingly, this type of introduction works to situate Duck's poem in the canon of august epics, rather than in with the simple vulgar works of pastoral poetry. What we see, then, is a poet who views his subject matter with a reverence generally reserved for epic journeys or re-imaginations of Scripture. In this way Duck aligns the poor thresher with the heroes of mythology. This theme is maintained throughout the poem, as Duck portrays the thresher in battle (as in lines 115-120, among others) and in celebration of "victory" (271-276). Still, it seems that this style might work concomitantly with a self-parodying tone, perhaps echoing Pope's mock epic "The Rape of the Lock", which similarly begins by invoking the muse.
I happen to think that the tone of the poem overall is a mixture of pride, as Whitney said, and bitterness. The poem starts out as describing the work of the fields as hard and somewhat rewarding, but as the poem progresses it turns into a bitterness over the repeating routine of hard back breaking work. In line 156 it says "Supper and sleep by morn new strength supply" implying a hope for a day of new energy and hard work to come. But later on in the poem, there is a greater focus on the oppressive "master" especially as he tells the workers "Early next morn I shall disturb your rest" in line 215 with the statement in the following stanza "Sure desolation does our steps attend (line 229)" to follow up how every morning is getting harder and rougher. The work that was found to be so rewarding and anticipated in the beginning is now seen as too much and too repetitive, and this life is much too "desolate."
I agree with Jill and Whitney that there is pride evident in the work, but also a tone of bitterness and complaint. As Julia mentioned, Duck compares the thresher's labor to the endless punishment of Sisyphus, which indicates Duck's negative view of his continual toil. Just as the poem starts with pride about the work and eventually turns to bitterness about its constant presence in the thresher's life , Duck writes that the laborer begins the day with "eager haste to prove, this new employ, become so much our love" but eventually "our sportive labour we too late lament" (100 and 124). Throughout the piece, Duck complains about how hard the master works the laborers, and even when he seems to be rewarding them it is only a distraction from more work: "We think of no toils to come, not mind the past. / But the next morning soon reveals the cheat, / When the same toils we must again repeat; / To the same barns much back again return, / To labour there for room for next year's corn" (276-280).
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