George Robert Sims (1847-1922) was an English journalist,
satirist, playwright, novelist and poet, with a special concern for the London
poor. His most famous poem, later much parodied, is “In the Workhouse:
Christmas Day”, which tells of a pauper being served Christmas dinner in the
Workhouse who unexpectedly jumps up and tells of how his dear sick wife died in
misery and poverty that very day the previous year for lack of true christian charity from the
good folk now present.
Sims was a prolific writer and his poems cover a whole
spectrum, from dramatic tales of rescue as in The Lifeboat to tales of brutal
husbands such as Sal Grogan’s Face, and many whimsical rhymes. His poems are
still very readable and a lighter example is Sweet July which gently parodies the traditional poet’s-eye view of that month when compared with the frequent reality.
A link to The Lifeboat and In the Workhouse:
Christmas Day:
