Jesus' Suffering Anonymous College

In A.E. Housman’s “The Carpenter’s Son” and Christin Rossetti’s “Good Friday”, both authors write about the Passion of the Christ. The poem is written from Jesus’ point of view in “The Carpenter’s Son” and portrays Jesus’ regret and doubt. In “Good Friday”, the poem is written from a follower’s point of view about their inability to be moved when witnessing Jesus’ suffering but their faith that Jesus can move them. While Jesus is speaking to the witnesses of his crucifixion in “The Carpenter’s Son”, the speaker in “Good Friday” acts as one of those witnesses. Through the portray of Christ’s crucifixion, both poems demonstrate how Christians misinterpret Jesus’ teachings and have too much faith in him: his followers believe in his teachings, but are not actually following them. His followers are selfish and glorify Christ’s pain, but ignore his actual suffering.

In the poems, as Jesus is actually suffering at the cross, many of his followers dismiss his suffering because of his mighty status, as if his holiness meant he felt no pain. Housman gives insight to Jesus’ mental struggle, starting with the title of the poem. By calling Jesus “The Carpenter’s Son”, he humanizes Jesus and demonstrates how Jesus had to struggle between...