Cook was a Chartist,[9] one of "a body of 19th century English political reformers advocating better social and industrial conditions for the working classes." The goal of Chartist poetry is to create a sense of camaraderie for the people within a vast community who found themselves oppressed and suffering.[10]
In her poem "A Song for the Workers," Cook emphasises the importance of shorter working hours. Within this poem she goes on to compare the treatment of labourers to that of the slaves in the United States. In another poem, "Our Father," Cook speaks out against child labour at the time and once again compares child labour to slavery. She also implies how children working such vigorous jobs turn their brains "dull and torpid," engaged in hard tasks that do not allow them to be children.[11]
Along with these views Cook was a proponent of political and sexual freedom for women, and believed in the ideology of self-improvement through education, something she called "levelling up." This made her a favourite with the working-class public.[2]
Not much is known about Cook's view on sexuality; however, through speculation, some researchers have inferred that Eliza Cook and some of her readers were lesbian. Her peers described her as having short "boyish" hair, a "mannish appearance," and mentioned that she wore lapelled jackets which showed off her shirt front and ruffles, described as "a very masculine style, which was considered strange at the time."[12]
