[The distressed poet] [graphic]

IIn an alcove on the right in an untidy garret, a man in a dressing-gown scratches his head as he writes on a sheet with the title "Poverty, a Poem". In the center of the image his wife is seated as she mends a pair of breeches; at her feet a cat and her kittens are curled up on the man's coat. Under the sleeve of the coat on the floor is an issue of "Grubstreet Journall." She looks to the door on the left where she is confronted by a milkmaid who holds a lengthy tally; the daisies in her bonnet suggest Michaelmas day when bills are due; she also is shown with a yoke across her back. Just inside the doorway a dog snatches the single pork chop from a plate on a chair; the cupboard above the door stands open to show empty shelves. Behind the poet's head is a satirical print showing Alexander Pope thrashing the book-seller Edmund Curll who had published pirated editions of his letters."