Poems
01.) “The Thresher’s Labour” by Stephen Duck
02.) “The Woman’s Labour” by Mary Collier
Discuss the efforts of poetry to construct a collective voice. Drawing on at least one poem about laborers (Duck, Collier), assess the strategies and efficacy of poets’ efforts to speak on behalf of a class of persons. Based on your readings, is poetry capable of constructing a politics of collective identify? “The Thresher’s Labour” by Stephen Duck and “The Woman’s Labour” by Mary Collier