In his poem “The Man with the Hoe,” poet Edwin Markham muses on the misery of the man with the hoe as indicative of the general condition of the poor man. Markham postulates that the poor man bears the burden of “the weight of centuries” and, as a result, merely accepts his miserable lot in life without question. He no longer retains hope of improving his condition or despair at the wretchedness of his condition.

This is one of the overarching themes of the poem: that the man has lost any ambition, incentive, or ability to think beyond the day-to-day need to wield his tool, the hoe, in order to just sustain himself and presumably his family. For this man, life is nothing more than existing. There is no joy, and at the same time, there is no unhappiness. He is beyond those extremes of emotion.

In fact, he is probably devoid of emotion, which is a pity, the author appears to say, because Man (as in humankind) has been given the ability to think and learn and feel. However, the poor man, as represented by the man with the hoe, has none of those traits. Yet G-d, who created Man, gave every human being the ability to be so much more and

To have dominion over sea and land;
To trace the stars and search the heavens for power;
To feel the passion of Eternity ...

Yet the man portrayed in the poem has none of those powers. The cause of this man’s misery is the systemic brutalization of the working class by the upper classes who themselves enjoy the characteristics that set Man apart from working animals. By comparison, because of the system established by the elite and privileged, this man with the hoe is little more than a beast of burden such as an ox or a donkey.

“Who made him dead to rapture and despair?,” the poet asks. It is “the world’s blind greed” that is responsible for this man’s wretched condition. Specifically, it is the greed of the privileged classes. The man with the hoe represents “humanity betrayed” by the greed and corrupt abuse of a system that enables the few to oppress the many. The poet accuses the “masters, lords and rulers in all lands” of depleting workers’ hopes, aspirations, and ability to ruminate, think, and wonder. In fact, the accusation is so clear that the poet twice repeats the phrase “O masters, lords and rulers in all lands.”

Then, just in case we missed the point that it is the privileged classes who have stripped the working man of his dignity and his G-d given abilities, Markham refers to “kingdoms” and “kings” as those “who shaped him to the thing he is” to make certain that we understand.