The Lovers of the Poor

“The Lovers of the Poor” is a satirical, free verse poem with 99 lines. There are seven sections, which can be called verse paragraphs because each section starts with an indented line like a paragraph. The title is part of the first sentence of the poem. Here, Brooks’s third person speaker—who serves a role similar to a narrator in a novel—announces that the lovers of the poor are arriving. The poem archly reveals that these “lovers” do not actually love those who are living in poverty.

The first section is 21 lines long and contains various descriptions of the “Ladies from the Ladies’ Betterment League” (Line 1). The speaker’s descriptions contain many paradoxes. Their faces show both “mercy and murder” (Line 4), which is a paradox with alliteration (repetition of the letter “m” at the beginning of both words). This highlights that the upper class position of the women was created by murderous systems (read: their families became rich by the poor dying). Because of their position, they are able to show mercy to members of the lower class. Other juxtaposed qualities include being “deep and debonair” (Line 5), or being both deep and superficial.