George Orwell: A Dressed Man

"Clothes against a meal."

George Orwell

A Dressed Man, by George Orwell, is a powerful poem on the reality of poverty during the Great Depression and was first published in The Adelphi Magazine in October 1933.

A dressed man and a naked man

Stood by the kip-house fire,

Watching the sooty cooking-pots

That bubble on the wire;

*

And bidding tanners up and down,

Bargaining for a deal,

Naked skin for empty skin,

Clothes against a meal.

*

‘Ten bob it is,’ the dressed man said,

‘These boots cost near a pound,

This coat's a blanket of itself.

When you kip on the frosty ground.’

*

‘One dollar,’ said the naked man,

‘And that's a hog too dear;

I've seen a man strip off his shirt

For a fag and a pot of beer.’

*

‘Eight and a tanner,’ the dressed man said,

‘And my life-work is yours,

All I've earned at the end of a life

Knocking at farmers' doors;

*

Turnips, apples, hops and peas,

And the spike when times are slack,

Fifty years I've tobied it

For these clothes upon my back.’

*

‘Take seven,’ said the naked man,

‘It's cold and the spikes are shut;

Better be naked here in kip

Than dressed in Lambeth Cut.’

*

‘One tanner more,’ the dressed man said,

‘One tanner says the word,

Off comes my coat of ratcatcher

And my breeches of velvet cord;

*

Now pull my shirt over my head,

I'm naked sole to crown,

And that's the end of fifty years

Tobying up and down.’

*

A minute and they had changed about,

And each had his desire;

A dressed man and a naked man

Stood by the kip-house fire.

Thank you for visiting! If you wish, you can also join Beyond Bloomsbury and/or read the suggested Beyond Bloomsbury posts below. Until next time…

Duncan Grant: Life Before Bloomsbury

James Joyce: Araby

Picturing 1922: Echoes of the Past

Daphne du Maurier: The Years Before

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