Ida Chicken tells her own story with dry, quiet resentment. After years of studying French and attending lectures, she finally decides to visit Paris to “polish” her culture. But before she can go, she has to visit the district court in Peoria for a passport. There, she is made to swear an oath to support and defend the Constitution—something she admits she could never do. The absurdity sharpens when she learns that, in the next room that same morning, a federal judge used the Constitution to exempt Thomas Rhodes, a wealthy local figure, from paying taxes for Spoon River’s waterworks. The poem’s mood is ironic and bitter. It sets the demands placed on ordinary people against the legal favors granted to the powerful. Ida feels that the system asks loyalty from people like her while protecting men like Rhodes, and she is left both amused and defeated.
Ida Chicken — Summary
After I had attended lectures At our Chautauqua, and studied French For twenty years, committing the grammar Almost by heart, I thought I’d take a trip to Paris To give my culture a final polish. So I went to Peoria for a passport— (Thomas Rhodes was on the train that morning.) And there the clerk of the district Court Made me swear to support and defend The constitution—yes, even me— Who couldn’t defend or support it at all! And what do you think? That very morning The Federal Judge, in the very next room To the room where I took the oath, Decided the constitution Exempted Rhodes from paying taxes For the water works of Spoon River!