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Ladies Betterment League Poem

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Alanah Cooper Michelle Ardila ENC 1102 September 18, 2016 The thought of helping people gives everyone a sense of purpose and joy. People strive to help the poor in many ways so the homeless could achieve a better life. This poem brings you the debate between service and charity. Service is more hands on and offers a person’s time and talent. Charity is the offering of money or items to help the poor progress. In Gwendolyn Brooks, “the lovers of the poor”, depicts the ladies Betterment League as a group of women that rather give money to the poor because they believe the poor environment is too dirty for them to partake in. Brooks develop the idea, in “The Lovers of the poor”, of the Ladies disgust and confusion towards the poor by conveying …show more content…

Brooks has a very sarcastic and disdainful tone throughout the poem. Her sarcasm comes out in lines 22-24, “Their guild is giving money to the poor. /The worthy poor. The very very worthy / And beautiful poor. Perhaps just not too swarthy?” (22-24), to make fun of the Ladies Betterment League racist and ignorant mindsets on the poor. Swarthy means dark skinned. So, when Brooks presents the question, “Perhaps just not too swarthy?” (24), gives the reader the idea that the Ladies wanted to help the white poor community instead of the black poor community. Brooks call these ladies “sweetly abortive” (16) and “barbarously fair” (9). Brooks also mocks that the living conditions of the poor is “entirely too much for them” (32), in a way to exaggerate the weak will the ladies have towards the poor. Brooks believes that these ladies bring “loathe-love largesse” (75). “loathe-love largesse” is Brooks way of showing the battle between the feelings of giving service and the hate that ladies have to be in a place that disgust them. Brooks time and time again tries to point out the true ignorance nature of the ladies. Brooks comments on how the ladies wish that the poor was “something less than derelict or dull” (27), showing that the women are ignorant to the living conditions of the poor because of their privileged

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