Fragments From The Fire: The Triangle Shirtwaist Company Fire of March 25, 1911

by Chris Llewellyn

Fragments from the Fire , winner of the Walt Whitman Award for 1986, is a narrative poem based on the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire in which 146 garment workers were killed. Llewellyn re-creates the lives of these workers, mostly immigrant women, the conditions that led to their deaths, and the varying reactions to that tragedy. The story is told in "fragments" testimonies, journal entries, letters from which we can piece together a recollection of not only the fire but also the historical period in which it occurred.
Grace Bauer, formerly with New Orleans, P.L.
Copyright 1987 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Genres: Poetry, History

70 pages, Hardcover

First published March 3, 1987

Reviews

[Aran · Rating 5 out of 5]

I might be a little biased because my aunt wrote this book and won the Walt Whitman Award for it back in 1986, but it's an incredible book. She was able to interview some of the survivors back in the 1970's. She brings some of their stories to life through poetry. She shares people's reactions to the fire, and how it changed society. Prior to the fire, fire escapes weren't mandatory on skyscrapers. She also includes photographs.

[Jordan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poignant, arresting book about the Triangle Shirtwaist Company fire of March 25, 1911.

[Megan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Powerful collection of poems informed by the words of the survivors and the families of those who were murdered for the greed of their bosses. This collection is as much about labor movements and public safety as it is about xenophobia. "Cutter and Mother" had a particularly poignant section "Machines scream/For more cloth, faster, more cloth./And at night, to fall exhausted into/dreams that bring no music or painted/Pictures. Mother even the pit pony/that is beaten gets a sweet to eat/pat on her head once in a while."

[Elizabeth]

As heard at Favorite Poem Night at the Takoma Park Library.

[behsforensics]

Cutting is for March 25, 1911
(From Fragments from the Fire)
By Chris Llewellyn