They have NEED of a besom that sweep the house with a turf

Insights

Desperation and Improvisation

Illustrates how dire need forces people to make do with inadequate or absurd substitutes, highlighting both ingenuity and hardship.

Insufficiency of Means

Represents a broader condition where the available resources are woefully unsuited to the task, often turning routine efforts into futile gestures.

Visible Poverty

The image suggests poverty so extreme it becomes visible in domestic practices—where even basic household tools are lacking.

Domestic Symbolism of Tools

The besom (a simple broom) was a common household object in rural life, and sweeping symbolized order and cleanliness. Lacking even this reflects a deeper disorder tied to economic deprivation.

Critique of Appearances

The proverb may carry a subtle satirical edge, suggesting that some people perform the motions of propriety or responsibility (sweeping the house) with absurd or symbolic gestures (a turf), revealing the gap between intention and capacity.

Folk Humor and Exaggeration

The exaggerated image of using a turf as a broom offers a form of rustic humor that both sympathizes with and mocks poverty, common in oral wisdom traditions.

Rhetorical Devices

Visual Irony

The contradiction of trying to clean with something inherently dirty (a turf) creates a vivid and ironic image that reinforces the proverb's meaning.

Metonymy

‘Besom’ and ‘turf’ stand in for adequacy and inadequacy more generally, allowing the domestic scene to symbolize broader conditions of want.

Colloquial Diction

The use of everyday objects and rural language makes the proverb immediately accessible and reinforces its grounding in common experience.