RELEVANT/SOCIAL
ISSUES:
- Labor exploitation
- Human equality
- Abused
EXPLAIN THE MEANING
OF THE POEM:
-The first stanza describes the
situation of the man with a
hoe…
-The second stanza describes
how the situation of the man
with a hoe questions God…
 -The third stanza is a cry for
injustice and betrayal…
-The fourth stanza is a call to
those who are on top of the
ladder…
-The fifth stanza shows a       -He also uses the men that
voice of hope for realization   has been blessed by God to
and redemption…                 highlight how we should
                                have lived, rather than how
-It is a poem against           we treat these people.
exploited labor which
focuses on the working class    -the man with the hoe
and the sufferings of the       portrays a social issue which
workers. The poem of protest    is labor exploitation.
was striking to the readers
and they must have felt the
agony that workers face,        -it illustrate how brutal
especially a farmer or a        master oppose his lowly
peasant who seem to carry       servant or worker this shows
the world upon his shoulders.   an exploitation or
                                mistreatment of the poor by
                                the rich and powerful people.
-The "man with the hoe"
represents slaves and
servants who have been          -the man in the poem cant
robbed of their humanity.       feel joy or pain because his
The poem alludes how we         constant labor has made him
can make right the bent back    senseless.
of a man who has been
abused and stolen of his
freedom and facility.
Markham asks how we can
right a man who we had
systematically put down and
made to feel like the dirt of
the ground.