Unseen

The following are all my unseen practices regarding poetry only. Well apparently this is the only full essay I have typed up in all of the two years.

Analysis of “Carpet Weavers, Morocco”

Carpet-weavers, Morocco narrates the lives of child laborers in Morocco. The poem is shadowed by tones of melancholy and despair, which builds onto a mood of regretfulness and oppressiveness. While children’s miserable lives were discussed, Rumens also implies that they have no future. The children are seen creating good lives for other people, while their own lives remained dark. The poet’s heavy use of imagery and irony contributes to the establishment of the dark, desperate tone, illustrating the sad lives these children are leading, further adding emphasis onto the inequality of these children, allowing the audience to empathize with these children and provoking others to push for change.

Through a stark contrast between the child workers’ lives and normal children’s lives, Rumens creates a tone of despair, adding onto a sad mood. The poet metaphorically represents the children as “chimes of different heights”, likening them to an instrument children often play in class. However, the joyous, vibrant visual and aural imagery created by such diction as “melodious” “chime” soon adds onto the harsh reality, as the author implies that these children does not have a chance to play such instruments, adding onto the image of children of different age and height all working to weave carpets. It could also be inferred that by likening the children to an instrument, the author plays with the literal irony of these children being instruments of their bosses who make money out of them. The use of harsh “b” sounds within the first stanza also provides an insight into the harsh lives these children lead. The poet also mentions the children watch the “flickering knots” while other normal children watch television, further emphasizing the lack of privilege in these children, illustrating a sad image of child laborers whose childhoods are taken away from them. This also means that the children are hard at work while other children play, as they weave carpets by tying knots.

The carpet the children are weaving can be seen as the symbol for a good life, however the children would never have it. The poet describes the carpet “traveling” in “merchants trucks”, going far away from them, implying that the children create these good lives for other people. The tone of sadness and despair is once more emphasized when the poet describes the carpet as being “heaped with prayer”. The carpets created by child workers contribute to another family’s prayer, while the children’s own prayers go unheard – this creates a sense of deep despair as it adds onto a strong paralleling contrast between these children and the lives of other people. The actions of the carpet described in the third stanza, while seemingly irrelevant, actually illustrates the good life the children create only goes out to other people, while their own lives remained miserable.

The desperate tone and dark mood of the poem was ever elevated during the last stanza, further providing an outlook on the children’s lives being hopeless and their futures being grey. The poet describes the children being “hard at work” in the “school of days” – an irony that adds onto the parallel between these children and normal children, creating the dark mood of sadness. While other children are hard at schoolwork, these child workers are literally “hard at work”; while other children go to school, these children labor in the “school of days” as they do not have access to education and days that passed are their only teacher. The poet’s use of enjambment at the end of line 11, along with the hopeful diction “colors” “all-that-will-be” “fly” creates a deep sense of hope of a better future that will continue on despite their conditions, leaving the mood as dark yet hopeful. However, the harsh reality in the diction of line 12 bring all hope into darkness, as these hopes “freeze” into “frames” of “all-that-was”. The use of negative diction in the last line strongly contrasts with the positive diction used in the previous line, creating an imagery of despair and sadness that is further amplified by the use of enjambment between them, intensifying the idea that these children do not have futures and their hopes are destroyed by the harsh reality.

Throughout the poem, the poet draws two parallel lines between normal children and child workers, providing deep senses of irony, adding onto a tone of despair and a mood of sadness as the audience empathizes with these children who live in darkness and despair. The contrast between the occasional hopeful undertone and the overshadow of harsh reality also emphasized the mood of the poem. Rumens sends a clear yet melancholy message of these children’s lives, provoking a despondent emotion and an urge for change.