Explore the ways that Wordsworth's 'Goody Blake and Harry Gill: A True Story' is an example of social protest. Anonymous 12th Grade

In "Goody Blake and Harry Gill: A True Story," Wordsworth presents to the reader the issues of social inequality, as well as the significant dichotomy between the advantaged, namely the landowning class, and disadvantaged, in late 18th century. Wordsworth, in his use of a rhetorical and didactic narrative voice, and characterisation, both highlights and condemns the imbalance between the poor and rich. The poem thus forces the reader to engage with, and to assess Wordsworth’s protest against, the consequences of social inequality on ordinary people.

To begin with, Wordsworth makes immediately clear the unequal circumstances of Harry and Goody, which are emphasised by Wordsworth’s drawing blatant and direct comparisons between the two. Whilst Harry has “flannel fine” and “coats enough to smother nine”, Goody’s “evening then were dull and dead”, and Wordsworth’s use of monosyllabic, alliterative explosives (the repeated d sound) emphasises the unpleasantness of Goody’s situation. Importantly also, in the third stanza, the description of each character’s circumstance are, structurally, placed alongside one another, thus clearly demonstrating the contrast. Wordsworth's use, also, of antitheses, for example “young” and “old”,...