Commentary - Ispahan Carpet
Ispahan Carpet, a poem by Elizabeth Burge, depicts a sweatshop involved in the
manufacture of rugs, into which an unidentified narrator steps and is disturbed by the use of child
labor. Throughout the poem, an atmosphere pervaded by dark imagery helps to illustrate the
terror and the hardships endured by the girl in weaving “one hundred [knots] to the square
centimetre” (13). It helps to show that losing touch with the misery incurred by one’s social
structure and the support of luxury can result in devastating consequences for those on the
bottom of the social pyramid relied upon to support those on top.
The poem is organized into five distinct stanzas. There are notable shifts between stanzas
two and three, as well as stanzas four and five. The poem, meter-wise, is free-verse - that is to
say that there is no rhyme scheme. It is written in the first person; this adds a personal touch, and
makes it easier to relate to the emotions and sensations experienced by the speaker of the poem.
The first stanza is spent building setting. Throughout the stanza, the tone is rather
ominous and dark, reflecting and accentuating the other devices in the stanza. One of the main
ways the poet builds setting is through diction. The loom on which the workers slave away is a
“gallows” (1), in a “bare” room, except for a few “blackened” pieces of pottery in a “cavernous
hearth” (3-4). In the midst of all of this is the worker family, described as “silent” and “sallow”
(2) - the alliteration of which serves to reenforce the image imparted of the poor state of the
family. Taken together as a whole, these words evoke a rather strong image of a dark, forbidding
place - that might be well compared to a prison or the dungeons of the Spanish Inquisition. The
rugs that the family weaves are metaphorically referred to as “webs” (6). As webs, in the
conventional sense, are woven by spiders, the little girls who weave the rugs are indirectly
compared to spiders. When one examines the nature of the spider, the first shimmer of a theme
becomes apparent; spiders live in solitude, being very reclusive creatures, and the only evidence
of their existence most of the time is the beautiful webs they weave, which many stop to observe
without truly stopping to think about their creator. Much the same can be said about the girls they live out of the public eye, weaving beautiful works of art that when seen, will be admired
for their beauty rather than the skill and artistry of the weaver. Their is little joy in the life of a
spider, just as there is little joy in the life of these child laborers.
In the second stanza, the work of the girls is described, with a concentration on the strain
that it puts on them. The main way the poet explores the strain upon the girls in the stanza is by
her metaphor comparing the girls to birds. She describes the “eight-year-old girls sparrowed on a
plank”, “their unsupported bird-bones / bent like old women” (7-9). In describing the girls as
“sparrowed” (7) along the bench upon which they sit, the poet evokes the image of sparrows
lined up, such as on a power line or upon a roof. Sparrows in such quantities are made smaller by
the comparison of those around them, and, in the crowd, are left with little character of their own
that shines out to be seen by the casual observer. So it is with the girls, who have been almost
dehumanized by their work, made anonymous by their numbers and the monotony of their roles.
The poet’s reference to the “bird-bones” (8) of the girls also holds great significance. Bird bones
are thin, quite brittle, and, therefore, delicate - indeed, saying that one has ‘bird bones’ has, to
some extent, adopted a universally understood meaning in the English language. Thus, in saying
that the girls have bird bones, a reminder is made of the girls’ delicacy. This makes the simile
that the girls are “bent like old women” (9) all the more disturbing. Being delicate creatures,
continuously bending over the “gallows” of their looms puts a great deal of strain on the young
workers, and the harm they are going through becomes apparent. It is now obvious that, beyond
the social and psychological harm brought on by the solitude and the uniformity of their
occupations, the girls are suffering physical harm. While weaving, the girls take the “coloured
wool upon the warp / left by their aunts and sisters” (10-11) as their guides. Though seemingly of
little consequence, this statement beings to light several ideas. Firstly, as their sisters and aunts
worked on the looms, it is implied that there is a history of young girls operating the looms - the
operating term here is “left” which implies that they no longer have the “little fingers” (9)
necessary to conduct the intricate work of weaving carpets, and the work passes from generation
to generation of girls. This leads to a second revelation - these girls are basically disposable.
Once these girls are no longer able to make the precise movements necessary to tie “the
exquisitely minute knots” (12), they will be replaced by those younger than them who have the
lithe fingers that can. A vicious cycle is becoming apparent, and it is increasingly obvious that
these girls have no future - not even in the pitiable trade in which they are currently employed.
In the third stanza, we note a shift, as the speaker begins what might best be compared to
an aside, speaking of her own thoughts on the plight of the girls. The most prominent device in
this rather short stanza is the use of anaphora. The speaker repeats “one hundred” (15, 16, 17) at
the beginning of each line. As if to drive a nail deeper in by each strike of a hammer, each
repetition of “one hundred” increases the outrage of the audience. Each successive line makes it
clearer that the girls are wasting their youths away, and highlights the pointlessness of their
endeavors. The first line of the stanza is simply a repetition of the speakers shock at the idea of
one hundred knots in such a small area as his “thumbnail”. Line sixteen, referring to the children
growing heart-beat by heart-beat, serves to remind the reader of the slow decay of time; these
girls are wasting their childhoods weaving carpets for the wealthy, slowly losing their innocence
and receiving what can be safely assumed to be a pittance in return. This culminates on line
seventeen, which states that the girls employ one hundred hours to the task of weaving just
enough carpet for the space that a foot will “crush” down. To employ a colloquialism, this line
adds insult to injury - made all the more potent with the diction of “crush” (17). As previously
established, these girls are wasting their childhoods away, are abandoning their futures so that
they and their families can subsist on some basic level in the present, and, at the end of it all,
their product, the labor of countless hours, will be indifferently, impersonally, and unconsciously
“crush[ed]” by those of better fortune in life. By the end of this paragraph, the reader is expected
to be infuriated.
The penultimate stanza continues on the “aside” of the previous, but the thoughts of the
speaker are now directed towards the child laborers. The tone now becomes saddened and, more
than ever, critical. Synecdoche can be observed in the reference to the “eyes” (18), which, of
course, are representative of a child laborer as a whole, whom the speaker means to address. The
eyes’ significance is made clear in the speaker’s reference to the “horizon” (18) of the carpet. In
a way this is metaphorical, but an argument can be made for its literal interpretation. This is all
based upon one’s interpretation of a horizon, and whether or not it need be a feature of a proper
landscape - but I digress. The important thing to note is that the rug practically fills the field of
view for these girls. They spend their days staring at the rugs, looking at little else - another
reference to the grim lifestyles of the girls. The writer then asks a rhetorical question: “Who can
unravel / the world’s weaving?” (19-20). The personified “world” in this case can be taken to
mean the cumulative efforts of time and society to create the current unjust social structure that
has these girls slaving away in a sweat shop. In a sense, the rugs themselves are an extended
metaphor, as evidenced by the diction of “unravel” (19) and “weaving” (20), as opposed to
‘creation’ or some other phrase of the sort; as the girls weave rugs, they are also weaving and
perpetuating the fabric of the social system that would keep them in a state of servitude and
subjugation. Little by little, knot by knot, the girls are adding to the metaphorical societal cloth
that restricts them to their misery.
The final stanza offers a conclusive affirmation of the speaker’s compassion for the girls,
and the one confirmation we, the readers, get from the girls themselves of their own suffering.
The speaker refers to her own hand as “swollen” (21). This diction, ostensibly, is in comparison
to the girl’s own form (the girl being just one of the many working in the sweat shop); her
shoulder is described by the adjective “greenstick” (21), connoting that it is shockingly thin and
that the girl herself is of a extremely frail nature - a nod to the bird metaphor of stanza two. The
deed of putting her hand on the girl’s shoulder, is, with no need for introduction, universally
acknowledged to be an act of empathy, showing that, regardless of the proud ignorance of the
tour guide with whom she has come, she, the narrator, has an understanding of the girls’ pain.
The girl reacts to this rare act of solidarity by looking up at the reader. She is described as having
“large eyes” (22), underlining her youth - apparently, there is innocence left in her. However, in
her look, she conveys “a speaking darkness”. This personified “darkness” is representative of all
the terrors that she has gone through, the dreams that have or soon will be dashed, and all the
worries that she must face on a day to day basis. Thus, in a short and wordless glance, the
speaker skims the surface of all the miseries these girls go through, and her suspicions are
confirmed, her compassion justified.
When we cease to consider the consequences of our social system and the maintenance of
luxury in its upper tiers, it can often lead to great hardship for those upon whom the system is
built - the poor, working classes. In the case of this poem, the aforementioned trend could be
seen in the suffering of child laborers slaving away making carpets. However, themes are
universal - we must take care that the good and wellbeing of the few does not encroach upon that
of the less well off, no matter what the setting is.