"The Bridge of Sighs" by Thomas Hood (poetry)

This poem became very famous when it came out in 1844. It's about Waterloo bridge over the Thames in London (not The Bridge of Sighs in Venice) and the suicide of young woman outcast from her family and driven to prostitution. But Victorian society had a relish for melodrama and the fate of such women was considered to be their own fault. For all its high sentence, it was popular entertainment, and it gave rise to many similar melodramas and paintings. Drowned people are not actually pretty and, if she looked that good, a serious attempt would have been made to revive her, even in those days. But Hood was a great humanitarian and he meant well.

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[ritubahar]

stupid heartless mockery of a woman posing as a poem, with the help of some eye-catching paintings! the only great thing about this video is the paintings of the women. pompous rhyming makes the poem even more heartless. an impassive recitation finally puts the last nail on the coffin and buries the poem, never to be resurrected again by most women, I would guess:)

[SpokenVerse]

@ritubahar That an over-reactiion. I covered most it in the notes. It proved very popular in its day and he meant well. He was a humanitarian How can rhymes be pompous anyway?

[vwgosrani]

I think this poem was in English Literature part of First Year Arts Students at St. Xavier's College, Mumbai in 1955/1956.