"To the Poor", "Washing Day" and "London's Summer Morning"

"To the Poor," by Anna Barbauld seems to be directed to the poor. "Who feel'st oppression's iron in thy soul," she explains that she understands their struggles for being born into poverty and are often conflicted with God's will. Barbauld demands that they, "Bend thy meek neck beneath the foot of power!" She is explaining that their hardships on Earth are not to be endured for long because heaven awaits and they should not worry, "Nor fear the God whom priests and kings have made." Barbauld is inspiring the poor and giving them a sense of hope by stating that the reign of God is nothing like the reign on Earth. They should keep their spirits high for what is to come.
"Washing Day" by Anna Barbauld opens up with a description of the chores that are carried out this day and the reaction to it. The opening line, "The Muses are turned gossips," puts a negative tone to the poem. Instead of women being appreciated for being creative individuals they are portrayed as, "Ye who beneath the yoke of wedlock bend." These are their duties as wives and cannot escape expectations. The poem continues to explain the stress associated with washing. Then the perspective shifts into the innocence of a child and how little she was affected by this day. Barbauld concludes with, "Earth, air, and sky, and ocean, hath its bubbles/ And verse is one of them --- this most of all." My interpretation of this last line is that there are so many little things which we tend to stress over, including our writing, but with imagination and a change of perspective we can see that its not as bad as it seems.
Mary Robinson makes, "London's Summer Morning," come alive by alluding to the reader's senses and by giving a vivid description of a typical busy morning in London. She gives us sound with the rattling milk-pail and the tinkling bell. We can visualize the mop twirl and the sultry smoke of the city. She describes London as an urban and industrialized area with many hard working citizens in it.