Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-61)

“The Cry of the Children”

1. When was the poem written? What is its subject? What social and political context prompted the author to write on this topic?

2. What is the stanza form and rhythm? Are there variations? Do you think this is a good stanza form for the author’s purposes?

3. What metaphors does the author use to make her points? In what ways is the children’s viewpoint different from that of adults? What is their view of death?

4. What view of religion does the author seem to espouse? What final metaphors or references conclude the poem, and do you think these are effective?

5. What is the sequence of the topics treated? Do you think the progression of the poem is effective?

6. Has the issue of child labor disappeared since Browning’s day?

“The Runaway Slave at Pilgrim’s Point”

1. What is the poem’s plot? Would it have been a familiar one to EBB’s readers? Where is “Pilgrim’s Point,” and why does the poet choose it for her setting? What contemporary controversies does the poem address?

2. Describe the poem’s rhythm and stanza form? Why do you think the poet chose it for this narrative? What are some results of casting the speaker’s story as a dramatic monologue? What effect is created by the fact that we do not know her name?

3. What is the speaker’s position at the beginning of the poem? What points does she make to defend the equality of black people?

4. What account does she give about her past? Why do you think the poet chose to describe the speaker’s past romantic life for her Victorian audience?

5. Who was the father of her child? What problems does this cause for the speaker and her child? What are some images that structure the account of her child’s birth?

6. What motivates the speaker’s infanticide? Does she love her child? What explanation for her behavior does the narrative offer? What act finally gives the speaker relief about her child’s death, and what symbolism is attached to this?

7. What meaning does the narrative attach to singing? According to the speaker, how were mother and child permitted reconciliation?

8. Who tries to recapture the speaker? What does she think of her pursuers? What is the tone of her references to religion? What final message does she leave to her destroyers, the United States, and the world?

9. What do you think different groups of American and British readers in 1850 would have thought of this poem? Do you think it is effective? Is there any aspect of the poem that might be altered if one were to write on similar subjects today?