Make Glad

The seasons, in passing, one sweet moral bring
And well – if he marked it – would man do;
“Spread pleasure like me,” is the language of Spring,
“Make all hearts as glad as you can do!
What a world it would be, if – less mindful of pelf –
You esteemed your neighbour a brother;
And if each, while he did a bit good for himself,
Did a little bit, too, for another!”
The Summer but varies the lesson – “Make glad!
Treat all men with love and affection!
My sun shines alike on the good and the bad,
And shall you dare to think of selection!
What a world it would be, if – less mindful of pelf –;
You esteemed e’en a bad man a brother;
And if each,” &c.
The Autumn repeats it – “My stores are for all!
But should one, in the scramble, get favour,
Let him share it with those whom little may fall,
And what’s left shall have more savour!
What a world it would be, if – less mindful of pelf –
You esteemed the unlucky a brother;
And if each,” &c.
And Winter affirms it, while shaking the door,
And binding the stream with his fetter;
“Keep the cold that I bring from the hearths of the poor,
And your own will burn brighter and better!
What a world it would be, if – less mindful of pelf –
You esteemed every poor man a brother;
And if each, while he did a bit good for himself,
Did a little bit, too, for another!”

Title:Make Glad

Author:Robert Story

Publication:Preston Guardian

Published in:Preston

Date:1862-10-11

Keywords:morality, poverty

Commentary

This poem is an earnest paean to charity and humility; Robert Story died prior to the cotton famine, so the (undated) text finds itself as a more general response to man’s suffering. Comprised of four octaves, each one spends its first half on the four seasons’ individual responses to plight. The message is identical throughout the stanzas; to this end, the second half of each repeats the same four lines near-identically, alternating only for a “neighbour”, “e’en a bad man”, “the unlucky”, and “every poor man”. Much of the poem is dedicated to this discourse. The progression across the seasons varies the imagined voice and effect of the seasons, ranging from the more passive and instructional sun “shin[ing] alike on the good and the bad”, to Winter’s cold that must be kept “from the hearths of the poor”. The weather appears almost indifferent; the “moral” that man might take must come both along the lines of, and in response to, the depredations of the season.

The archaic word “pelf”, referring to money (or property) obtained in a dishonourable manner, is repeatedly invoked as an almost inherent vice of the world. To this end, questions of charity, capital, and relief are made clear. Addressed to all of “man”, implicitly whether rich or poor, everyone is seen to have something to offer regardless of economic status. The poem frames an equivalence between those who might only offer goodwill, and those who offer supplies and monetary aid. Every man must contribute to the cause of making glad. Despite this, the repeated, and denigrating, use of “pelf” returns to the question of capital possession and value – though goodwill may be spread by all, the speaker sees the basis of much of man’s plight as unavoidably economic in nature. That “a little bit good” might be done is universal. However, the poem’s conclusion in esteeming every “poor man a brother” reaffirms the point: it is directed towards those that might tangibly aid the poorer.

Harry Caton, University of Exeter