The Future Essay, Research Paper

An Essay Study of Poetry andA Poet & # 8217 ; s Ability to ForseeThe FutureThe universe is altering and germinating at an amazing rate. Within the lastone hundred old ages, the Western community has seen progresss in technologyand medical specialty that has improved the life styles and length of service of almostevery person. Within the last two hundred old ages, we have seen twoWorld Wars, and countless differences over false boundary lines created bycolonialists, bondage, and every horrid signifier of human sufferingimaginable! Human life styles and civilizations are altering every minute. Whileour grandparents and ascendants were growing-up, do you believe that theyever imagined the universe we live in today? What is to come is almostinconceivable to us now. In this universe, the lone thing we can be certain ofis that everything will alter. With all of these transformationshappening, it is a admiration that a great poet may compose words over onehundred old ages ago, that are still relevant in today s modern universe. It isalso singular that their written words can state us more about ourpresent, Thursday! an they did about our yesteryear. Is it merely an semblance that our universe isevolving, or make these great poets have the power to see into the hereafter? In this brief essay, I will look into the immortal features ofpoetry written between 1794 and 1919. And, I will demo that theseclassical verse forms can really keep more relevancy today, than they did inthe twelvemonth they were written. Along the manner, we will pay close attending tothe manner of the poesy, and the strength of words and symbols used tointensify the poets disclosures. The World Is Too Much with Us, writtenby William Wordsworth in 1807 is a warning to his coevals, that theyare losing sight of what is genuinely of import in this universe: nature and God. To some, they are one in the same. As if deficient grasp for thenatural gifts of God is non sin plenty, we add to it the abuse of pridefor our colza of His land. Wordsworth makes this poetic message immortalwith his powerful and emotional words. Let us analyze his Po! werful manner: The universe is excessively much with us ; late and shortly, Geting andspending, we lay waste our powers: Small we see in Nature that is ours ; We have given our Black Marias off, a seamy blessing! ( Lines 1 & # 8211 ; 4 ) Materialism, uneconomical selfishness, harlotry! These are the images that these linesbring to me! Yet, is it non more true today than in Wordsworth s clip, that we are a civilization of people who merely devour and blow? The thirdline awakens me, and says that I have been raised with the outlook thatI am non a portion of nature, and that I do non place my demands with thoseof nature s needs. This outlook may hold been rather true in 1807, but itis certainly more true in 1996. There is absolute neglect of nature in theacts of good respected western corporations. Would person who is in-touchwith nature orchestrate the cut and burn of beautiful rain woods ofSouth America, or the life giving jungles of Africa and Asia? Wouldsomeone who is in-touch with nature shit degree Celsius! hemical waste into Waterss that are place to one million millions of workss and animate beings? These and other abominations have certainly increased in the last 189 yearssince this verse form was written. What makes the wickedness even worse is the factthat work forces who order this devastation are good well-thought-of people in ourculture. The air currents that will be ululating at all hours, And are up-gatherednow like kiping flowers ; For this, for everything, we are out of melody ; It moves us non. Great God! ( Lines 6 & # 8211 ; 9 ) Wordsworth gives life tonature in his words, and shows to us nature s torment and hurting, howlingat all hours. But, we listen non! For we are out of melody, and much tooimportant to ourselves, that we may non listen to the air current, rain, land orsea. I do non cognize which is the greater wickedness: the loot of the earth snatural beauty, or adult male s agonizing inhumaneness toward his fellow adult male. London, written in 1794, by William Blake is a verse form of civilisation sdecline and besides the diminution of compassion and humanit! Y. I wander thro each charter 500 street, Near where the charter vitamin D Thames

does flux, And grade in every face I meet Marks of weakn

ess, 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.