Orphan Poem Analysis

                A sad reality in Dickens’ time: orphans were on the street. In this poem, there are two orphan boys struggling to survive. The sad thing the orphans have is nothing but the clothes on their backs and each other. That is all they know, since their parents have died. In this poem, one can see that the cold and weather symbolizes the hardships the orphans have gone through to no avail. Society’s view of them is also cold as they cannot be helped and are left to suffer on the street, as the elder boy says “’The night will not be long’ he said, ‘And if the cold winds blow, We shall sooner reach our home,”(Household Words Vol I, 253). This signifies with society shunning them, they do not belong and they will find their place on somewhere greater than earth. The elder brother also goes on to say “’Our father and our mother soon will take us to their bed and in their warm arms we shall sleep’ He did not know they were dead”(Household Words Vol I,253). With this statement we see the mood change, the thoughts change from suffering to release. Not only the release from the suffering they have been through in their short lives, but the relief of society’s cold heartedness towards the orphans. They will be with their parents with love, and nothing else will matter to the little orphan boys. “’The Angel of Death has been our friend—We come! Dear Father! Mother!’”(Household Words Vol I, 253). In this sense we see that the Angel of Death has been their angel of mercy as they depart from the world with joy and go to a much simpler happier place, with love the world did not give them.

- Michael Uhl