The Dark Side of Literature Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

The Dark Side of writings - Essay ExampleLondon is a short poem of four stanzas in which Blake laments the fact that tag of weakness, marks of woe can be seen in every face he meets in the city. In every cry of every Man, in the Infants cry of fear, and in every new(prenominal) voice, the freedom-loving poet hears the mind-forgd manacles. The poet makes a specific attack on the twin arms of power-the Church and the CrownPlainly, the poet is of the view that the beset has entered into the very heart of the London, for harlots are used and abused not by the high and mighty alone, simply by every man who thinks he can get his moneys worth from them-be the sum a a few(prenominal) pence or more than than a few guineas. It is the curse of the harlot that engenders the Infants cry of fear and makes marriage a farce that begins and ends as a hearse that transports men and women from the plagues of Earth to the plagues of Hell.If London appears dark, The Human Abstract is quite unrelent ingly, colour in its round and full condemnation of the Human Brain-not just the brain of politician or monarch or demagogue, but the human brain. The poet reveals the selfish foundation of even seemingly benevolent emotions such as kindness and MercyPity would be no moreIf we did not make somebody PoorAnd Mercy no more could beIf all were as happy as we.In such a context, it is only usual fear that brings peace till selfishness waxes too gr expel. Then, Cruelty knits a snare/And spreads his baits with care. Holy fears soon water...the worldly concern with tears. This is all that it takes for Humility to take root beneath the cruel foot. The dismal shade/ of Mystery thence drops over his head and the Catterpiller and Fly/ Feed on the Mystery.The fruit of this guide appears Ruddy and sweet to eat but it has a canker at its core and it is the fruit of Deceit. The Gods of earth and sea may assay for this tree and its fruit through all Nature, but the search would be in vain for th e tree grows not in Nature, but in Man-in the Human Brain.If in London Blake had seemed to sympathize with chimney sweeper, with hapless soldier or youthful Harlot, in The Human Abstract the poison tree is revealed as one that can flourish in any human brain. While the oppressiveness of Church and the State will be condemned and rightly so, the poets task is not to be populist or to strive to be popular-he has to shine the light of his poetry into the cracks and crevices of every human heart and soul and brain. This should acquit to a transformation-but such a change can occur only if the need for change is manifest, and that, surely, is what a poet like Blake is trying to achieve. In