Analysis of Sorry Fire Story, Manhatten NYC, 1911.
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City, on Saturday, March 25, 1911, was the deadliest industrial disaster in the history of the city, and one of the deadliest in U.S. history.[1] The fire caused the deaths of 146 garment workers – 123 women and girls and 23 men[2] – who died from the fire, smoke inhalation, or falling or jumping to their deaths. Most of the victims were recent Italian or Jewishimmigrant women and girls aged 14 to 23;[3][4] of the victims whose ages are known, the oldest victim was 43-year-old Providenza Panno, and the youngest were 14-year-olds Kate Leone and Rosaria "Sara" Maltese.[5]
Provoked and defined next steps in USA labour movement and workplace safety.
Sorry Fire Story, NYC, 1911
Now you Girls
Don’t even think
Of leaving before the
Buzzers at half past.
All exits have been locked.
No goddamm Union Lads
Will get a footstep
Upon our square footage.
To agitate and complain.
Not like last year’s schmozzle.
Eighth, ninth and tenth
Floors, ours and hard built.
Machined with the best.
You gotta be thankful
For these jobs.
Back in Europe you
Know you would have
Been up against awful
Odds for fair play
Piece work options.
Blood work is a liability.
Jews, Italians, Poles.
Denied stuff at every turn.
But we here at
Triangle Shirtwaist Co.
Do our best.
We really do.
And you benefit handsomely.
We teach you about conveyors
Pinch points, evacuation routines
Long hair netted.
Proper safety ware.
Keeping aisleways open
And clean and dry.
Prudent eye protection.
Soon you will receive two weeks’
Get ready to line up and punch.
Anybody smell fire?
Scheme | A B C A C X X X A X X X D X X E D A F X D D A B A X X C E F B A A X X G X G A X X |
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Poetic Form | |
Metre | 010110010001010101010111011001101000100010001001010011010001110101011101010010111110101001011011011111010010010111001111111010110110101011111001001110100100101 010011101111100110 1010101 111 1101 110010 1111 110111 11101 1101 0110110 110001 11111 1101 110011 01101 110110 111 10101 1111 110110 1111 1110 11100100 10101 01111001 1111 1011 1101 1101 01100100 111011 11001001 1110 10101 10110 0101 101010 1110111 11011101 1000110 |
Closest metre | Iambic pentameter |
Characters | 1,778 |
Words | 377 |
Sentences | 31 |
Stanzas | 41 |
Stanza Lengths | 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1, 1 |
Lines Amount | 41 |
Letters per line (avg) | 32 |
Words per line (avg) | 7 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 32 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 7 |
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Written on May 30, 2023
Submitted by dougb.19255 on May 30, 2023
Modified by dougb.19255 on May 30, 2023
- 1:53 min read
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"Sorry Fire Story, Manhatten NYC, 1911." Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 21 May 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/160414/sorry-fire-story%2C-manhatten-nyc%2C-1911.>.
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