"The poor man's sins are glaring; In the face of ghostly warning He is caught in the fact Of an overt act Buying greens on Sunday morning. The rich man's sins are hidden In the pomp of wealth and station; And escape the sight Of the children of light Who are wise in their generation."
"He laughs at the theories of other people without expounding any for himself. His keenest contempt is reserved for affectation, however inspired: his poetry is never didactic, seldom even containing the picture of an ideal. Peacock does not deal in maxims, fervid appeals, or tender retrospect. A friend of the younger poet, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Peacock clearly was unpersuaded by the Romantic point of view: his editor isn't mistaken."
A satirical moral portrait contrasts the poor and the rich, showing how visible, minor acts by the poor attract moral condemnation while the rich conceal comparable wrongs behind wealth and status. Specific contrasts include buying greens on Sunday, cooking at home versus dining served by servants, public drinking versus private cellars, shabby musical amusements versus hidden concerts, and exposed third-class travel versus private carriages or yachting. The satire exposes social hypocrisy and the selective gaze of piety. The satirical voice mocks affectation, refuses didacticizing or offering an ideal, and resists simple moralizing or Romantic exaltation.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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