Poverty
Poverty - fact Summary
Born of Lawson's Own Hardship
The poem condemns persistent, grinding poverty and its destructive effect on a man’s heart and spirit. It rejects sentimental praise of want by outsiders—preachers and poets—arguing that such cant blinds those who suffer. Poverty is presented as an ‘‘everlasting terror’’ and a prime cause of crime and error. The lines reflect Henry Lawson’s own experiences of hardship in Australia and his sympathy for the poor.
Read Complete AnalysesI hate this grinding poverty To toil, and pinch, and borrow, And be for ever haunted by The spectre of to-morrow. It breaks the strong heart of a man, It crushes out his spirit Do what he will, do what he can, However high his merit! I hate the praise that Want has got From preacher and from poet, The cant of those who know it not To blind the men who know it. The greatest curse since man had birth, An everlasting terror: The cause of half the crime on earth, The cause of half the error.
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