In The Garden Party, poet Hilaire Belloc dissected the “hoary social curse”:
The rich arrived in pairs
And also in Rolls Royces
They talked of their affairs
In loud and strident voices.
The poor arrived in Fords
Whose features they resembled
And laughed to see so many lords
And ladies all assembled. (C2, D, E)
The people in between
Looked underdone and harassed
And out of place and mean
And horribly embarrassed. (A, B, C1)
