The Man With The Hoe

It is a poem made by an American poet Edwin Markham.
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It is inspired by the painting “L’homme à la houe” by
Jean-François Millet, which is perceive as a socialist
protest regarding the peasant’s plight.
The poem was initially presented as a public poetry

reading in the 1898 New Year’s Eve party and was
eventually published in the San Francisco Examiner in
1899.
What figure of speech is being used in the poem?

Markham used metaphors to describe the man in the
painting.
What do The Man and the Hoe symbolize in the poem?
The poem portrays the labor of much of humanity using the symbolism of a laborer
leaning upon his hoe, burdened by his work, but receiving little rest or reward.
What is the lesson of the poem?

The poem boldly critiques of the exploitation of laborers by a capitalistic, profit-driven
society.
What does the body of The Man with the Hoe signify?
The body of the man in the poem "The Man with the Hoe" signifies the crushing labor
the working man must carry out to survive. The weight that bends his body symbolizes
"the weight of the centuries," or the burden that humans have long had to toil
constantly to grow food and endure.
Who is Edward Markham?

Edwin Markham was a popular American literary figure during the first half of the 20th
century whose works espoused progressive social and spiritual beliefs.
Edward Markham’s Biography

Born : April 23, 1852
Oregon City, Oregon, U.S.
Died : March 7, 1940 (aged 87)
Staten Island, New York, U.S.
Occupation : Poet
Nationality : American
Edwin Markham
He is the youngest of 10 children; his parents divorced shortly after his birth. At the age of four,
he moved with his mother to Lagoon Valley in Solano County, California. He obtained a teaching
certificate in 1870 from Pacific Methodist College in Vacaville. Markham then attended San Jose
Normal School (now San Jose State University) as a member of the first graduating class (1872),
and wrote the poem The Man with the Hoe.The house in which he wrote the poem was preserved and
moved to the city's History Park, and now serves as a poetry center. He went by "Charles" until
about 1895, when he was about 43, when he started using "Edwin." He also studied at Christian
College in Santa Rosa, California in 1873.
The Man with the Hoe
By: Edward Markham
Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans

Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world.
Who made him dead to rapture and despair,
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes,
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox?
Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw?
Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow?
Whose breath blew out the light within this brain?
Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave
To have dominion over sea and land;
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power;
To feel the passion of Eternity?
Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns
And marked their ways upon the ancient deep?
Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf
There is no shape more terrible than this—
More tongued with censure of the world’s blind greed—
More filled with signs and portents for the soul—
More fraught with danger to the universe.
What gulfs between him and the seraphim!

Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him
Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades?
What the long reaches of the peaks of song,
The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose?
Through this dread shape the suffering ages look;
Time’s tragedy is in that aching stoop;
Through this dread shape humanity betrayed,
Plundered, profaned and disinherited,
Cries protest to the Judges of the World,
A protest that is also prophecy.
O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

is this the handiwork you give to God,
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched ?
How will you ever straighten up this shape;
Touch it again with immortality;
Give back the upward looking and the light;
Rebuild in it the music and the dream;
Make right the immemorial infamies,
Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes?

How will the Future reckon with this Man?
How answer his brute question in that hour
When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world?
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings—
With those who shaped him to the thing he is—
When this dumb Terror shall reply to God
After the silence of the centuries?
The Man with the Hoe FIRST STANZA
By: Edward Markham THIS STANZA DESCRIBES THE MISERABLE
CONDITION OF THE FARMER BECAUSE OF
Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans THE CRUELTY OF THEIR MASTER..
Upon his hoe and gazes on the ground,
The emptiness of ages in his face,
And on his back the burden of the world. SECOND STANZA
Who made him dead to rapture and despair, THE STANZA ILLUSTRATES THE
A thing that grieves not and that never hopes, CONTRADICTING SITUATION. WHEN THE
Stolid and stunned, a brother to the ox? FARMER SHOULD LIVE FREELY AND
PURSUE DREAM BUT IN FACT THIS
Who loosened and let down this brutal jaw? FARMER LIVES IN ADVERITY AND FEAR.
Whose was the hand that slanted back this brow?
Whose breath blew out the light within this brain?
THIRD STANZA
Is this the Thing the Lord God made and gave
To have dominion over sea and land; THIS STANZA CONVEYS THAT THERE IS A
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power; BIG DIFFERENCE BETWEEN THE FARMER
To feel the passion of Eternity? WHO SUFFERED AND THE RULER WHO
Is this the Dream He dreamed who shaped the suns LIVED IN HAPPINESS.
And marked their ways upon the ancient deep?
Down all the stretch of Hell to its last gulf FOURTH STANZA
There is no shape more terrible than this—
THIS STANZA TELLS THE MASTER TO FIX
More tongued with censure of the world’s blind greed—
More filled with signs and portents for the soul— THEIR MISTAKES AND STOP THEIR
More fraught with danger to the universe. CRUELTY.
What gulfs between him and the seraphim!

FIFTH STANZA
Slave of the wheel of labor, what to him
Are Plato and the swing of Pleiades? THIS STANZA CONVEYS THE SPEAKER
What the long reaches of the peaks of song, ANGER TONE TO THE MASTERS WHO
The rift of dawn, the reddening of the rose? TREATED THE FARMERS INHUMANELY AND
Through this dread shape the suffering ages look; THEIR WILL BE THE JUDGMENT DAY FOR
Time’s tragedy is in that aching stoop; THEIR ACTIONS.
Through this dread shape humanity betrayed,
Plundered, profaned and disinherited,
Cries protest to the Judges of the World,
A protest that is also prophecy.

is this the handiwork you give to God,
This monstrous thing distorted and soul-quenched ?
How will you ever straighten up this shape;
Touch it again with immortality;
Give back the upward looking and the light;
Rebuild in it the music and the dream;
Make right the immemorial infamies,
Perfidious wrongs, immedicable woes?

How will the Future reckon with this Man?
How answer his brute question in that hour
When whirlwinds of rebellion shake the world?
How will it be with kingdoms and with kings—
With those who shaped him to the thing he is—
When this dumb Terror shall reply to God
After the silence of the centuries?

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It is a poem made by an American poet Edwin Markham.

The poem was initially presented as a public poetry

What figure of speech is being used in the poem?

What is the lesson of the poem?

Who is Edward Markham?

Edward Markham’s Biography

Bowed by the weight of centuries he leans

What gulfs between him and the seraphim!

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

What gulfs between him and the seraphim!

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

O masters, lords and rulers in all lands,

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