The Lovers of the Poor

“The Lovers of the Poor” is a satire about rich, white women who decide to engage in philanthropy. Brooks’s speaker reveals how the members of the Ladies’ Betterment League do not actually love the poor. Their largesse—the generous giving of gifts—becomes associated with loathing alongside love. The paradox of loathe-love appears in several lines: “Why, what are bringings / Of loathe-love largesse?” (Lines 75-76). The word “why” indicates that the ladies are unsure of their motivations for helping the poor. They are also unsure of what to give the poor because they only claim to love them while truly loathing them. Later in the poem, the ladies wonder if there is a different poor home “Where loathe-love likelier may be invested” (Line 93). Outwardly, they pretend their charity is motivated by love, but their primary emotion, shown by its repeated position in the hyphenated “loathe-love,” is repulsion.

In their fickle attention, the women establish qualifications for who is deserving of charity. They are seeking the “very very worthy” (Line 23). This, like modern means-testing in welfare programs, promotes the idea that not everyone is worthy of