In the first stanza, the children are described to be “at the loom of another world”. Here, the word “loom” is a pun. Taken literally, the loom is the carpet weaving machine that children work on day after day. The word “loom” also suggests that another world – the world of cruelty - “looms” over the children, highlighting the inescapability of their fate.
The use of the positive lexical field consisting of diction such as “oiled”, “black” and “bright” to describe the children paints a picturesque, dazzling display of colours. This vivid imagery creates a sense of realism, an intimacy between the readers and the carpet weavers. Yet this only serves to heighten the disparity between them and children living in developed countries. Despite their similarities in appearance, their fates are drastically different. The lively appearance of the carpet weavers simply masks the harsh reality that these children are being abused. The metaphor “assorted heights would make a melodious chime” then compares the children of various heights to bells in a mosque which ring a lyrical tune. However, the children “would make” a melodious chime is almost perverse as too many children have been sacrificed to contribute to such an assortment of heights.
Commencing the second stanza, the author begins to use simple future tense to describe stages in the weaving of the carpets: “the bench will be raised” and “they will lace the dark-rose veins of the tree-tops”. Future tense implies that the described chain of events is predetermined - it has been, and will continue to be this way. The simile “watch their flickering knots like television” asserts the innocence of the children, who sit staring at their work, completely mesmerized by the detail. On a deeper level, Rumen hints of the bleak world in which the children live, in which luxuries such as television are nonexistent, in which they are subjected to the atrocity of child labour.
In the third stanza, the poet portrays the fact that the child weavers are not only being abused, their sweat and toil is also undermined. The carpets are merely chucked into the back of a truck for transportation to the mosque for followers and devotees to pray on. It is paradoxical that the children who have weaved the carpets are unable to pray for the welfare of themselves. These carpets are valuable, luxurious and religiously significant merchandise, described elaborately as “the garden of Islam” (a grand design of carpets), “deep and soft”, yet the children only receive a nominal amount of wages for their work.
The poet’s sympathy towards these child carpet weavers reaches the climax in the last stanza. The first line “The children are hard at work in the school of days” conveys the fact that the children are spending their days weaving carpets when they should instead be at school. Alliteration of “f” sounds in “from”, “fingers”, “fly”, “freeze” and “frame” places tonal emphasis on the toiling and the monotonous, repetitive life of the children. The tone is hushed and harsh, creating nostalgia reflective of the acerbity of the children’s fates. Despite the children’s hopes of a soaring future, “all-that-will-be fly”, enjambment of “and freeze into the frame of all-that-was” suggests that these dreams are instantly stagnated, and rooted to the past.
Similar to ‘Carpet-weavers, Morocco’, ‘Muliebrity’ recounts the experiences of a girl who is forced by poverty to work in deplorable conditions. However, in contrast, the actions of this girl and the way her experiences are portrayed emphasizes her obliviousness towards the hardship and contentment knowing that she is contributing to her family’s daily needs, however modest this may be, through collecting cow-dung. This contentment, of course, is reflective of the beauty of the girl’s muliebrity.
The poem flows in the style of a free verse with frequent use of enjambment and caesurae. This creates pauses in the flow of the poem, as if the narrator is pausing while she recalls her memory of the girl from her past. This ‘thinking’ is more explicitly stated in the poem - “I have thought so much” - which adds to the apparent difficulty of reminiscing this reality from so long ago, distancing the reader and persona from the experiences of the girl, whose ‘muliebrity’ is drastically different from our stereotypes.
Yet despite the girl’s shocking deviation from social norms, Bhatt feels an intrinsic admiration for the girl, an inability to relinquish the deep impression the girl has made, as shown in the anaphora of “I have thought so much”, and through the abundant use of the definite article “the”: “the girl”, “the way”, “the smell”, “the greatness”, “the power” (even used after “and” in parallel structure).
Throughout the poem, the author places emphasis on olfaction. The vast majority of smells are unpleasant - “monkey breath”, “dust from crows’ wings” and, especially, “cow-dung” but there are pleasant smells as well - “wet canna lilies” and “freshly washed clothes”, denoting two oppositions in the girl’s life: that attributed to her work of picking up cow-dung and that of her womanly beauty. These smells appose each other and yet seem ubiquitous, “surrounding me separately and simultaneously”, suggesting that the girl’s womanly beauty is even present, or rather especially present, in her work.
Repetition is used for “and again the smell of cow-dung”, possibly alluding to the monotony and repetitiveness concerned with the girl’s work. The atmosphere achieved by sibilance, present in “smells surrounding me separately and simultaneously”, suggests that her world, though monotonous, is soothing. The anaphora of “unwilling to” also highlights that Bhatt is unwilling to taint the image of the girl. No words can appropriately portray the girl. In the eyes of the persona, nothing can fully justify the “muliebrity” of the girl; nothing is comparable to her womanly qualities and femininity. A metaphor would simply demean her.
It is not until the end of the poem when the title and theme “muliebrity” is truly reflected. The positive lexical field of “greatness”, “powerful” and “glistening” reveals her exuberance and vitality when she finds a “promising” mound of cow-dung. Gathering cow-dung, to anyone else, is a monotonous, repugnant task; but what truly impresses the persona in the poem is the girl’s – though still young – sense of responsibility, satisfaction and contentment in contributing towards her family’s needs. This accentuates her muliebrity, her feminine characteristics.
Both poems explore the labour of children in developing countries, yet from contrasting perspectives. In ‘Carpet-weavers, Morocco’, Rumens portrays the exploitation of children “in the school of days” and communicates the helplessness of these children who are unable to escape this situation. Irony is keenly felt through the discrepancy between the beautiful appearance of the children and the harsh reality which draws sympathy from the readers. On the other hand, in ‘Muliebrity’, Bhatt considers the sights and smells associated with the girl, and her willingness to perform the lowest menial task, as something almost sacred. The realization is, that simplicity in this sort of life, rather than being decried, is what brings one real satisfaction and contentment.
Bibliography
- “Carpet-weavers, Morocco” by Carol Rumens and “Muliebrity” by Sujata Bhatt from IGCSE World Literature Poetry Anthology
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