Study Of Poetry Essay, Research Paper

An Essay Study of Poetry and

A Poet’s Ability to Forsee

The Future

The world is changing and evolving at an astounding rate. Within the last

one hundred years, the Western community has seen advances in technology

and medicine that has improved the lifestyles and longevity of almost

every individual. Within the last two hundred years, we have seen two

World Wars, and countless disputes over false borders created by

colonialists, slavery, and every horrid form of human suffering

imaginable! Human lifestyles and cultures are changing every minute. While

our grandparents and ancestors were growing-up, do you think that they

ever imagined the world we live in today? What is to come is almost

inconceivable to us now. In this world, the only thing we can be sure of

is that everything will change. With all of these transformations

happening, it is a wonder that a great poet may write words over one

hundred years ago, that are still relevant in today?s modern world. It is

also remarkable that their written words can tell us more about our

present, th!

an they did about our past. Is it just an illusion that our world is

evolving, or do these great poets have the power to see into the future?

In this brief essay, I will investigate the immortal characteristics of

poetry written between 1794 and 1919. And, I will show that these

classical poems can actually hold more relevance today, than they did in

the year they were written. Along the way, we will pay close attention to

the style of the poetry, and the strength of words and symbols used to

intensify the poets? revelations. The World Is Too Much with Us, written

by William Wordsworth in 1807 is a warning to his generation, that they

are losing sight of what is truly important in this world: nature and God.

To some, they are one in the same. As if lacking appreciation for the

natural gifts of God is not sin enough, we add to it the insult of pride

for our rape of His land. Wordsworth makes this poetic message immortal

with his powerful and emotional words. Let us study his po!

werful style: The world is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and

spending, we lay waste our powers: Little we see in Nature that is ours;

We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! (Lines 1 – 4) Materialism,

wasteful selfishness, prostitution! These are the images that these lines

bring to me! Yet, is it not more true today than in Wordsworth?s time,

that we are a culture of people who simply consume and waste? The third

line awakens me, and says that I have been raised with the mentality that

I am not a part of nature, and that I do not identify my needs with those

of nature?s needs. This mentality may have been quite true in 1807, but it

is surely more true in 1996. There is absolute disregard of nature in the

acts of well respected western corporations. Would someone who is in-touch

with nature orchestrate the ?slash and burn? of beautiful rain forests of

South America, or the life giving jungles of Africa and Asia? Would

someone who is in-touch with nature dump c!

hemical waste into waters that are home to billions of plants and animals?

These and other abominations have surely increased in the last 189 years

since this poem was written. What makes the sin even worse is the fact

that men who order this destruction are well respected people in our

culture. The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered

now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune;

It moves us not. ? Great God! (Lines 6 – 9) Wordsworth gives life to

nature in his words, and displays to us nature?s agony and pain, ?howling

at all hours.? But, we listen not! For we are out of tune, and much too

important to ourselves, that we may not listen to the wind, rain, land or

sea. I do not know which is the greater sin: the pillage of the earth?s

natural beauty, or man?s torturous inhumanity toward his fellow man.

London, written in 1794, by William Blake is a poem of civilization?s

decline ? 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 wealthy

enough to own land. In a subtle way, Blake tells us that every inch of

London is owned ? the ?charter?d streets,? the ?charter?d Thames.? It is a

reflection of the immaturity of our culture that we allow just 5% of the

world?s population to control 80% of the world?s wealth , leaving most in

utter poverty. This is especially true today: the United States frequently

dumps 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. It

seems that in our culture, the more we have, the more we waste. How the

Chimney-Sweeper?s cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless

Soldier?s sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls. (!

Lines 9 – 12) Every potent word of these four lines inject emotions of

grief, hopelessness, and death: the images of the child?s cry, the

blackning Church, and blood on Palace walls. The words force us to mourn

the decline of London?s society. The history of the child enslavement of

chimney sweepers, during Blake?s time, was a horrid inhumanity to

children. Great Britain and other western nations would like to praise

themselves for abolishing this sort of slavery. However, the inhumanity of

child enslavement is more true today than in the seventeen and eighteen

hundreds. The sin of enslavement is even more heightened, because

neocolonialism and multinational corporations have moved their inhumane

business practices to developing countries, where they may take advantage

of the desperation and poverty of those areas. In addition, the disturbing

images of slavery are hidden from westerners who respect the success of

multinational corporations. Yes, Blake?s poem is very relevant t!

oday. It is difficult to choose among William Butler Yeats most timeless

poems, because every one of them has immortal qualities. His poem, The

Second Coming, not only embraces eternal relevance and a deep

understanding of humanity?s history, but also the fruits of prophesy!

Turning and turning in the widening gyre The falcon cannot hear the

falconer; Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; Mere anarchy is

loosed upon the world? (Lines 1 – 4) With respect to the two major topics

discussed before (man?s inhumanity and disrespect for nature), this stanza

offers much insight into the progression of humanity. The state of decline

that was described in poems written over one hundred years ago described a

human cultural trend that is to continue on an intensifying cycle, like

the ?widening gyre.? Today, we are approaching a state of complete

detachment from our origin, our nature and our God: ?The falcon cannot

hear the falconer,? as insightfully described by Yeats. This stanza i!

s so very relevant to us, because it symbolically describes every aspect

of the progression of humanity! Yeats poetry transcends immortality, and

becomes prophetic! His ?widening gyre? symbolizes the climactic end, until

anarchy is upon us. Every word of his poem creates a deep fear of

humanity?s downward spiral. The relevance of poetry is undeniable. As

Percy Bysshe Shelley admits, ?A poem is the very image of life expressed

in its eternal truth.? It is an ?eternal truth? that can offer wisdom for

hundreds of years after the poem?s birth. A prophet or a mystic may

attempt to tell ones future; but, the poet approaches from a very

different angle. The poet becomes intimate with the nature of humanity,

and its timeless characteristics. In this way, the poet surrounds himself

in a divine sort of wisdom. Truly, poetry is immortal. To explore the

wisdom and symbolic message of poetry is an exciting journey for me. As a

child, I was never introduced to poetry, and certainly never wa!

s exposed to its importance. To study the deeper meaning of poetry has

been a challenge and an adventure. It has brought my mind to contemplate

things to which I have never attached a value, such as my personal

connection with nature. I agree with Shelley, that poetry ?awakens and

enlarges the mind itself by rendering it the receptacle of a thousand

unapprehended combinations of thought.?