what is the image of the man with a hoe

Question

The poem "The Man With the Hoe" by Edwin Markham is based on a painting called L'homme a la houe by the French painter Jean-Francois Millet. The painting, which now resides at the J. Paul Getty Museum, depicts a man laboring in a rocky field overgrown with thistles. Bowed down by the effort of his toil, he is filthy and exhausted. His mouth is open, and he has a blank look on his face, as if the backbreaking work has left him dull and emotionless. First exhibited in 1863, the painting provoked controversy at the time because of its depiction of the brutal life to which peasants were subjected.

Using this painting as inspiration, Edwin Markham wrote "The Man With the Hoe." The poet gave a public reading of it on December 31, 1898, and it was then published in the San Francisco Examiner and subsequently many other newspapers in January 1899.

The poem starts off with a quote from Genesis that states that God made man in his own image. This is intended to contrast with the image of man presented in the poem as empty of expression, dead to emotion, and bowed down by the intolerable weight of his labor. Markham describes this poor man—who is supposedly made in the image of God—as a "slave of the wheel of labor," a "dread shape," and a "monstrous thing" that is "distorted and soul-quenched." This man can no longer appreciate the beauty of the stars, the light of dawn, the redness of a rose, or the melody of a song.

Markham calls upon the "masters, lords and rulers in all lands" to correct this image, straighten the man's shape, and give him back the music and dreams that define the true image of humanity.

Answer 1

Markham depicts a man in his poem "The Man with the Hoe" who works the land in an exhausted state--so exhausted, in fact, that he is "brother to the ox." The man at the center of Markham's poem lives much the way a beast of burden would, as he is constantly working and never able to take time to think or to ponder the marvels of the universe.

Markham was inspired to write the poem by the painting L'homme à la houe by Jean-François Millet. This painting, painted in 1860-1862, was controversial when it was shown at the Salon of 1863. It was considered too socialist in its message. The image is of a man whose facial features have been blotted out, obscuring his individuality. Wearing a loose-fitting white tunic, he leans against his hoe in a posture indicating exhaustion. He is working the desiccated land, which is rocky and infertile. The land is brown, and nothing green is growing. In the background, brush fires smolder, suggesting a land that is dried up and unable to yield crops.