The Wretched Pair by James Parkerson
A husband pleads with his own father to forgive and receive back his estranged wife. He insists she kept faithful through seven years of marriage and defends her against charges of vanity, excessive socializing, and haughty manners, attributing the father's coldness instead to her lack of wealth. He recalls loving her despite her slender fortune and declares the two, though parted, remain united in heart. He condemns the fickle world and false friends who flatter the prosperous but scorn the poor, extending this charge to his father, who offers advice but withholds money, once remarking it was cheaper to keep one person than two. The speaker explains his wife's one lapse—leaving the father's house without permission—as a natural response to the contempt shown her there, including a visit where she wept over her husband's distress and was rebuked rather than comforted. He asks his father to stop blaming him unfairly, to fulfil a prior promise of help, and to grant the wretched pair, son and wife, means to work the soil, pledging industry and honest gratitude in return.
By James Parkerson · First published 1806 · Genre: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Social Commentary · 808 words
First lines
Oh, sir! I pray, before you leave this life, / Extend forgiveness to my injured wife.
Why cast her from your presence? Say the cause? / Faithful she's kept the strict connubial law's.
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Genres
- Poetry — Composed entirely in verse with regular rhyming couplets (AA BB), the fundamental formal structure of the work.
- Dramatic Monologue — Functions as an intense emotional appeal directed at another character, employing direct address, rhetorical escalation, and theatrical intensity characteristic of dramatic verse.
- Social Commentary — Extensively critiques wealth inequality, the hypocrisy of false friendships, the callousness of the rich toward the poor, and how fortune determines social standing and familial loyalty.
- Tragedy — Depicts undeserved suffering of a virtuous couple separated by poverty, parental disdain, and social cruelty, with no resolution offered and moral ruin of relationships.
Tags
English poetry · arraign · bidding · bills · bus'ness · change · cheaper · company · contempt · e'er · extend · faithful
What this Textopian page supports
The Wretched Pair is listed on Textopian as a poem by James Parkerson, dated 1806 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: James Parkerson
- Date: 1806 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Poetry, Dramatic Monologue, Social Commentary, Tragedy, Domestic Drama
- Length: 808 words
- Structure: 1 section, 41 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for The Wretched Pair by James Parkerson
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
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More by James Parkerson
- Lines on the Death of Lord Nelson (1806)
- Written Extempore (1806)
- The Bankrupt (1806)
- Characters from Life; Or, Moral Hints. In Verse (1800)
- The Convict's Farewell: with Advice to Criminals, Before and After Trial (1800)
- An Address to the Insolvent (1795)
- To the Memory of an Affectionate Parent (1796)
- Thoughts on Passing through a Church-Yard (1795)
- All works by James Parkerson