Elizabeth Barrett Browning. "The Cry of the Little Children". Reading Questions

1. To whom is the poem addressed? Who are the author's "brothers"? Who is the audience?
2. What social and political context prompted the poet to write on this topic?
3. Who are the poem's speakers?
4. In Stanza 1, what do you think is the point of comparing the things in nature (lambs, birds, flowers) to the fate of the children?
5. What contrast is made in the last line of the first and second stanzas: "In the country of the free", "In our happy Fatherland"?
6. In the second Stanza the poet points to "old" things that are weeping. What point is she trying to make?
7. The third and fourth Stanzas express the children's view of death. What is their attitude toward death? Provide examples.
8. How do the children view the death of little Alice?
9. What is the poet's advice to the children in the fifth and sixth Stanzas? What is their reply? Why can't they identify with what the poet proposes?
10. Stanza seven describes the conditions in the factory. What stands out in the description? What is the effect on the children of the wheels turning?
11. How does the poet address the wheels in Stanza eight? What does she request?
12. What is the children's response to the suggestion in Stanzas 9-11 that theyshould pray to God?
13. Why do the children not believe in God any more?
14. In Stanza 12, how does the poet justify the children's weeping? Why do they have the right to weep?
15. How does the poet express her condemnation of her nation?