A Description Of The Morning

460 Words2 Pages
The Description of the Morning: A Critical Summary Ahsan Habib (English Department, RU) “A Description of the Morning” by Jonathan Swift gives a realistic account of the morning and also describes different working conditions and social scenes. In the poem, everything seems to be in a disorderly condition. Each character of the poem assumes a stand, pose and posture—but nothing gets done. In fact, the poem depicts a naturalistic vision of the working and lower class people. The poem starts with a vivid account of the morning when there is hardly any “hackney-coach” in the street. The morning has been described as “ruddy morn”, mocking the Greek sun God Apollo. The ruddy morn indicates a weak and dull morning. “Ruddy morn” is used not only to make fun of Apollo but also to set the underlying mood of the poem. Throughout the poem most of the characters are presented as immoral, and showy. Very early in the morning, Betty, a woman of lower status, steals away from her master’s bed presumably because she has been indulging in immoral activities for the whole night. Then the “slip-shod” apprentice sets to work; pares layers of dirt, and sprinkles water on the floor. The apprentice is, in fact, not doing his job properly, only pretending to ‘pare’ the dirt. Moll, a female servant, just whirls her mop. Thus all these characters are contributing to the preparation of the city for a day’s work. A scene of noise is noticeable in the poem. The “youth with broomy stumps” are sweeping the gutter. To sell more coal, the “small-coal man” is making a sort of noise early in the morning disturbing the sound sleep of city dwellers. Again, the chimney-sweep, small boy working hard to clean a chimney, is producing “shriller notes” so that they can earn money by toiling hard in cleaning the chimney. In the street, “brickdust Moll” is screaming in a loud voice. Towards the
Open Document