Some observations on the poem "The Orphan Girl"

 

Derozio's humane treatment of the distressed is clearly portrayed in the poem 'The Orphan Girl.'

Derozio uses similes in describing the physical attributes of the Orphan girl. For example while describing the girls hair, the poet says her hair "was black as a raven's wings." 

A simile is a figure of speech that draws a comparison between two different things by showing similarity between the things. The poet draws a comparison between the blackness of her hair and the black raven.

After the pleasant description of the girl, the poet suddenly changes the track of the poem he now moves his description to a state of gloominess.

When the poet talks about the unpredictable future of this Orphan girl, he indicates people's general attitude to orphan children like her. There are many things that society  can do on its path to help such children.

Derozio's humanitarianism is most suggested by his concern about the miserable condition of Hindu women. Derozio opposed the custom of sati which was practised in the past.

The condition of the orphan girl is similar to another poem "An Orphan Girl" by Thomas Vaughan Jones. "An Orphan Girl"also expresses the tragic condition of an orphan girl. The Orphan girl in "An Orphan Girl" stands barefoot in a  street of town with her ragged doll. She shivers in the winter' s biting cold. But nobody is there to offer a helping hand to that lonely girl. Both orphan girls are helpless in the hand of time and society seems uncaring of their miseries.

The poem has two stanzas consisting of 12 and 14 lines respectively. The rhyme scheme of the poem is that it starts with an abab rhyme scheme but changes to ccdd, eeff, ffgg and so on.