Poems about corruption delve into the dark underbelly of human society, shedding light on the moral decay and abuse of power that afflict individuals, institutions, and systems.
These poems explore the insidious nature of corruption, exposing its detrimental effects on justice, equality, and social harmony. They often depict the erosion of trust, the perversion of values, and the manipulation of truth that accompanies corrupt practices.
Auden’s ‘Consider This and in Our Time’ captures a society poised on the brink, blending serene imagery with ominous undertones of political upheaval.
As the hawk sees it or the helmeted airman:
The clouds rift suddenly - look there
At cigarette-end smouldering on a border
At the first garden party of the year.
‘Cahoots’ by Carl Sandburg delves into the dark underbelly of a corrupt city, exposing the collusion and exploitation that thrive within its power structures.
Play it across the table.
What if we steal this city blind?
If they want any thing let 'em nail it down.
Harness bulls, dicks, front office men,
Blake’s ‘Songs of Experience’ version of ‘The Chimney Sweeper’ directly accuses the church and the state of inhumanely exploiting children through chimney sweeping.
A little black thing among the snow,
Crying "weep! 'weep!" in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father and mother? say?"
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.
‘Damaetas’ is a character sketch of a young man who has been completely morally corrupted, lying and cheating wherever he goes.
In law an infant, and in years a boy,
In mind a slave to every vicious joy;
From every sense of shame and virtue wean'd,
In Sheenagh Pugh’s ‘Sweet 18’, an older woman expresses her desire to regain youth as she battles the temptation to take it from others.
You move before me with all the unknown ease
of your age; your face clear of the awareness
that clouds mine. Your only scars; where you tried
to shave, before there was any need.
‘A Castle-Builder’s World’ by Christina Rossetti describes an empty and inauthentic world. It serves as a warning against spiritual emptiness.
Unripe harvest there hath none to reap it
From the misty gusty place,
Unripe vineyard there hath none to keep it
In unprofitable space.
‘Feelings of a Republican on the Fall of Bonaparte’ uses the defeat
of Napoleon to criticise tyrants and systems that enable oppression.
I hated thee, fallen tyrant! I did groan
To think that a most unambitious slave,
Like thou, shouldst dance and revel on the grave
Of Liberty. Thou mightst have built thy throne
‘The Dreamer’ by Gabriel Okara reflects a nation’s fight against corruption and hardship, showing the strength, unity, and hope of its people for a brighter future.
He was seeking good in our collective good
As he stood aside, not apart, watching
Helpless stream of mankind passing slowly by;
Cheerless mankind with dying hopes of flickering flames
‘Politics’ protests the abuse of political power, showing public promises and moral ideals drowned out by the performance of politics.
How it makes of your face a stone
that aches to weep, of your heart a fist,
clenched or thumping, sweating blood, of your tongue
‘Contractors’ by Gabriel Okara is a poem that explores the ideas of corruption within large organisations, suggesting that everyone is trying to find profit for themselves.
Men and women
Wearing grim, ingratiating faces,
Moving with money-steps; and receptionists
With pothole-faces of money importance
‘Woodchucks’ by Maxine Kumin is a metaphorical poem which uses the conceit of a farmer hunting woodchucks to uncover the murderous tendencies only a position of power can reveal in humans.
The food from our mouths, I said, righteously thrilling
to the feel of the .22, the bullets' neat noses.
I, a lapsed pacifist fallen from grace
puffed with Darwinian pieties for killing,
Adcock’s ‘The Telephone Call’ humorously navigates the illusion of luck, emphasizing life’s experiences over material wealth.
They asked me 'Are you sitting down?
Right? This is Universal Lotteries,'
they said. 'You've won the top prize,
the Ultra-super Global Special.
The Thirty Pilgrims in ‘The Canterbury Tales’ and the host belong to diverse ranks and professions representing the contemporaneous society.
ONCE ON A TIME, as old tales tell to us,
There was a duke whose name was Theseus;
Of Athens he was lord and governor,
And in his time was such a conqueror
‘Prayer Before Birth’ by Louis MacNeice was written during the terror struck days of World War II. It places the realities of an evil world into the mouth of an unborn baby.
I am not yet born; O hear me.
Let not the bloodsucking bat or the rat or the stoat or the
club-footed ghoul come near me.
‘America’ by Claude McKay balances ideas of loving and hating the United States. McKay explores the good parts of the country, the strength and vigor it contains as well as the bad.
Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,
And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,
Stealing my breath of life, I will confess
I love this cultured hell that tests my youth!
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