“The Song of the Shirt,” a dolorous Victorian poem by Thomas Hood (1843) was a lament against the exploitation of the seamstresses doing piecework, usually at home, “in unwomanly rags.” Irma struggles to avoid this fate and the helpless piety of the illustration (by Richard Redgrave).
With fingers weary and worn,
With eyelids heavy and red,
A woman sat in unwomanly rags,
Plying her needle and thread –
Stitch! Stitch! Stitch!
In poverty, hunger, and dirt,
And still with a voice of dolorous pitch
She sang ‘The Song of the Shirt!’
Pamela Schoenewaldt, historical novels of immigration and the search for self in new worlds: WHEN WE WERE STRANGERS, SWIMMING IN THE MOON, and UNDER THE SAME BLUE SKY (all HarperCollins).
pamelaschoenewaldt.com 
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