In what ways can Charlotte O’Neil’s Song be described as a protest song?
In what ways can Charlotte O'Neil's Song be described as a protest song?
In order to fully answer this question I firstly looked up the meanings of the words 'protest' and 'song'. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary defines 'protest' as "as statement of dissent or disapproval" and song as either "as short poem in rhymed stanzas" or "as short poem or other sets of words set to music or meant to be sung". Charlotte O'Neil's Song is indeed a poem comprising of four stanzas, each with an element of rhyme. The choice of words alone also makes it clear that the song is a "statement of dissent".
In the poem we learn a lot about the typical chores Charlotte was expected to do in a days work, fictitious or otherwise. The tasks that the poet has chosen to use are dirty and unpleasant jobs, "I emptied your chamber pot", possibly to highlight the subservient position she has been put in. Providing us with this background knowledge has effectively made Farrel's job of developing the argument later in the poem a lot easier, as she has already outlined the situation.
We learn a lot about the attitudes of Charlotte's employers. The poet displays them in a very negative light. A key example is "I emptied your chamber pot". I think that any reader of the poem would find it difficult to respect a person who feels they are in such a superior position that they do not need to do very basic tasks. This suggests the employer merely sees Charlotte as a slave, or as the ship's record state, "General servant". The selfish and cruel attitudes of the employer are again seen in lines 13-14, " The rich man earns his castle, you said / The poor deserve the gate." Through these lines the poet has allowed us to see the employer through Charlotte's eyes, as well as to the general attitudes of society during the 19th century.
In order to fully answer this question I firstly looked up the meanings of the words 'protest' and 'song'. The Oxford Concise English Dictionary defines 'protest' as "as statement of dissent or disapproval" and song as either "as short poem in rhymed stanzas" or "as short poem or other sets of words set to music or meant to be sung". Charlotte O'Neil's Song is indeed a poem comprising of four stanzas, each with an element of rhyme. The choice of words alone also makes it clear that the song is a "statement of dissent".
In the poem we learn a lot about the typical chores Charlotte was expected to do in a days work, fictitious or otherwise. The tasks that the poet has chosen to use are dirty and unpleasant jobs, "I emptied your chamber pot", possibly to highlight the subservient position she has been put in. Providing us with this background knowledge has effectively made Farrel's job of developing the argument later in the poem a lot easier, as she has already outlined the situation.
We learn a lot about the attitudes of Charlotte's employers. The poet displays them in a very negative light. A key example is "I emptied your chamber pot". I think that any reader of the poem would find it difficult to respect a person who feels they are in such a superior position that they do not need to do very basic tasks. This suggests the employer merely sees Charlotte as a slave, or as the ship's record state, "General servant". The selfish and cruel attitudes of the employer are again seen in lines 13-14, " The rich man earns his castle, you said / The poor deserve the gate." Through these lines the poet has allowed us to see the employer through Charlotte's eyes, as well as to the general attitudes of society during the 19th century.
