Song of the Shirt

The lyrics of The Song of the Shirt make it apparent just how horrific and miserable the life of a textile worker was. The verses, with their repition of "Work, work, work" throughout the song, convey the monotonous, strenuous, tedious, and agonizing labor they slaved away at. Not only did the laborers suffer, but it seems as though they also reached a point of being dehumanized. "Woman sat in unwomanly rags," and the price and value of bread grew so great, while "humans lives so cheap." Perhaps one of the clearest illustrations of this is in the line "It is not linen you're wearing, but human creatures lives." The laborers in the textile industry gave their life to their work, putting in hours of labor all the way from "when the cock is crowing aloof" to when the "stars shine through the roof." In their poverty, they had no choice but to continue, and yet they made just barely enough to get by. Their only slightest form of revenge was to sing songs such as these, hoping they would reach the ears of the rich.