Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Enclosure in Goody Blake and Harry Gill

When I read the poem Goody Blake and Harry Gill it brought to mind Clare's To an Insignificant Flower, Obscurely Blooming in a Lonely Wild, for both seem to refer to the enclosure movement. The fact that Goody targets Harry's hedge, which separates their properties, doesn't seem accidental to me. Goody reaps the benefits of untouched nature as the wind scatter "many a lusty splinter" for her use, but this is not enough to sustain her. It seems that the human alteration of nature such as the planting of a hedge should be beneficial but Harry is portrayed as selfish as he hoards nature's bounty. The work also seems to highlight how enclosure is particularly detrimental to the poor, who would have benefitted the most from shared land.

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