Trimming

By Helen Leah Reed

        When your father, long ago, tried to train you - and you know             He thought mornings meant for school, and not for swimming -         How your heart beat loud in dread as relentlessly he said,             "You'llremember - when you've had another trimming."         When your daughter buys a hat, and you're wondering thereat,             As before the glass she stands, its beauty hymning;         Ah! the mischief in her eyes, as she pleads, "Show no surprise             At thecost. One has to pay forpretty trimming."         When the butcher brings your bill, and you stare at it until             Your tongue with fervid words is fairly brimming,         Then you hear him meekly say, as your anger you display,             "It seems high, because there's so muchwaste in trimming."         So when politicians try your votes to beg or buy             With their sophistry - your common sense that's dimming -         Justremember then thecost (and thewaste, should all be lost),             Of the smooth-tongued, wordy trimmer'spretty trimming.

Share & Analyze This Poem

Spread the beauty of poetry or dive deeper into analysis

Analyze This Poem

Discover the literary devices, structure, and deeper meaning

Create Image

Transform this poem into a beautiful shareable image

Copy to Clipboard

Save this poem for personal use or sharing offline


Share the Love of Poetry

Poem Details

Language: English
Keywords: Public Domain
Source: Public Domain Collection
Rights/Permissions: Public Domain

Analysis & Notes:
This poem explores the deceptive allure of superficial embellishment, using three vignettes to illustrate its point. Structured as a single, extended stanza, the poem employs a loose iambic pentameter that mimics the rhythm of everyday speech. The voice is that of a seasoned observer, dispensing wisdom gleaned from experience. Each scene presents a scenario where the speaker confronts the excess and futility of trimming from a father's insistence on rigid schedules to a daughter's frivolous spending to the inflated cost of meat. The imagery of mischief and beauty hymning in the second stanza contrasts sharply with the stark reality of the butcher's bill and the politician's empty promises. The poem culminates in a stark warning against succumbing to the smooth-tongued, wordy trimmer. The repetition of trimming throughout emphasizes its insidious nature, while the final lines suggest that true value lies not in superficial adornment but in substance and integrity. The poem reminds us to critically assess the motivations behind alluring presentations, as beauty and extravagance often mask underlying wastefulness.

Understanding Satirical Poetry

Satirical poems use wit, irony, exaggeration, and ridicule to expose folly—personal, social, or political. The aim isn’t just laughter: it’s critique that nudges readers toward insight or change.


Common characteristics of satirical poetry:

  • Targeted Critique: Focuses on specific behaviors, institutions, or ideas—often timely, sometimes timeless.
  • Tools of Irony: Uses sarcasm, parody, understatement, and hyperbole to sharpen the point.
  • Voice & Persona: Speakers may be unreliable or exaggerated to reveal contradictions and hypocrisy.
  • Form Flexibility: Appears in couplets, tercets, quatrains, blank verse, or free verse—music serves the mockery.
  • Moral Pressure: Beneath the humor lies ethical pressure—satire seeks reform, not merely amusement.
  • Public & Personal: Can lampoon public figures and trends or needle private vanities and everyday pretenses.

The best satire balances bite with craft: memorable lines that entertain while revealing the gap between how things are and how they ought to be.