The Future Essay Research Paper An Essay — страница 2

poem of civilization sdecline and also the decline of compassion and humanit!y. I wander thro each charter d street, Near where the charter d Thames does flow, And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. (Lines 1 – 4) London, a city of millions, with very few who are wealthyenough to own land. In a subtle way, Blake tells us that every inch ofLondon is owned the charter d streets, the charter d Thames. It is areflection of the immaturity of our culture that we allow just 5% of theworld s population to control 80% of the world s wealth , leaving most inutter poverty. This is especially true today: the United States frequentlydumps excess farm and dairy produce to keep their market price high,rather than share the excess food with the hungry people of the

world. During Blake s time, the world was not in such excess as it is today. Itseems that in our culture, the more we have, the more we waste. How theChimney-Sweeper s cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the haplessSoldier s sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls. (!Lines 9 – 12) Every potent word of these four lines inject emotions ofgrief, hopelessness, and death: the images of the child s cry, theblackning Church, and blood on Palace walls. The words force us to mournthe decline of London s society. The history of the child enslavement ofchimney sweepers, during Blake s time, was a horrid inhumanity tochildren. Great Britain and other western nations would like to praisethemselves for abolishing this sort of slavery. However, the inhumanity ofchild enslavement is more true

today than in the seventeen and eighteenhundreds. The sin of enslavement is even more heightened, becauseneocolonialism and multinational corporations have moved their inhumanebusiness practices to developing countries, where they may take advantageof the desperation and poverty of those areas. In addition, the disturbingimages of slavery are hidden from westerners who respect the success ofmultinational corporations. Yes, Blake s poem is very relevant t!oday. It is difficult to choose among William Butler Yeats most timelesspoems, because every one of them has immortal qualities. His poem, TheSecond Coming, not only embraces eternal relevance and a deepunderstanding of humanity s history, but also the fruits of prophesy!Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot

hear thefalconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy isloosed upon the world (Lines 1 – 4) With respect to the two major topicsdiscussed before (man s inhumanity and disrespect for nature), this stanzaoffers much insight into the progression of humanity. The state of declinethat was described in poems written over one hundred years ago described ahuman cultural trend that is to continue on an intensifying cycle, likethe widening gyre. Today, we are approaching a state of completedetachment from our origin, our nature and our God: The falcon cannothear the falconer, as insightfully described by Yeats. This stanza i!s so very relevant to us, because it symbolically describes every aspectof the progression of humanity! Yeats poetry transcends immortality,

andbecomes prophetic! His widening gyre symbolizes the climactic end, untilanarchy is upon us. Every word of his poem creates a deep fear ofhumanity s downward spiral. The relevance of poetry is undeniable. AsPercy Bysshe Shelley admits, A poem is the very image of life expressedin its eternal truth. It is an eternal truth that can offer wisdom forhundreds of years after the poem s birth. A prophet or a mystic mayattempt to tell ones future; but, the poet approaches from a verydifferent angle. The poet becomes intimate with the nature of humanity,and its timeless characteristics. In this way, the poet surrounds himselfin a divine sort of wisdom. Truly, poetry is immortal. To explore thewisdom and symbolic message of poetry is an exciting journey for me. As achild, I was never

introduced to poetry, and certainly never wa!s exposed to its importance. To study the deeper meaning of poetry hasbeen a challenge and an adventure. It has brought my mind to contemplatethings to which I have never attached a value, such as my personalconnection with nature. I agree with Shelley, that poetry awakens andenlarges the mind itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousandunapprehended combinations of thought.