Dark Side of Human Nature in Literature - Essay Example

In the Line of Duty: Highlighting the Dark Side of Human Nature No worth his salt would ever seek to deny the fact that he had a duty to society to fight social and political oppression and the abuse of power, William Blake of the 18th century and William Butler Yeats of the 20th century were poets who did that and more. They attacked not just governments and politicians and the powers that be, they spoke candidly about the flaws of human nature as seen in patrician or plebeian, governor or greengrocer, pope or pauper. Blake exposed the dark side of human nature in poems such as "The Human Abstract" and "London." Yeats appears to despair of the crass, new Ireland of the early twentieth century in "September 1913", and although he admired the heroism of the Irish revolutionaries in "Easter 1916" the poet does not condemn the British reprisal. "London" is a short poem of four stanzas in which Blake laments the fact that "marks of weakness, marks of woe" can be seen in every face he meets in the city. In "every cry of every Man", in the "Infant's cry of fear", and in every other voice, the freedom-loving poet hears the "mind-forg'd manacles." The poet makes a specific attack on the twin arms of power-the Church and the Crown: ,,,the Chimney-sweeper's cry Every black'ning Church appalls. And the hapless Soldier's sigh Runs in blood down palace walls. The poet attacks the mighty-sure enough, but he has enough ammunition left for others too. In the final stanza the poet raises his voice against the not-so-mighty who may well be oppressors too, in their own way: But most thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's curse Blasts the newborn Infant's tear, And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse. Plainly, the poet is of the view that the blight has entered into the very heart of the London, for harlots are used and abused not by the high and mighty alone, but by every man who thinks he can get his money's worth from them-be the sum a few pence or more than a few guineas. It is the curse of the harlot that engenders the "Infant's 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 unrelentingly, black 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 'Pity' and 'Mercy': Pity would be no more If we did not make somebody Poor; And Mercy no more could be If all were as happy as we. In such a context, it is only "mutual fear" that brings peace till selfishness waxes too great. Then, "Cruelty knits a snare/And spreads his baits with care." "Holy fears" soon "water...the ground with tears." This is all that it takes for "Humility" to take root beneath the cruel foot. The "dismal shade/ of Mystery" then drops over his head and "the Catterpiller and Fly/ Feed on the Mystery." The fruit of this tree 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 search for this tree and its fruit through all Nature, but the search would be "in vain" for the 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 oppression of Church and the State will be condemned and rightly so, the poet's 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 lead 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 "September 1913" William Butler Yeats laments the death of the great Irish heroes and the consequent demise of Irish heroism, and he makes it clear that he considers the latter the greater tragedy. He is so depressed by the state of Ireland that he mocks the nation and its people saying that they are now "come to sense" and do nothing but ...fumble in a greasy till And add the halfpence to the pence And prayer to shivering prayer, until You have dried the marrow from the bone. He ridicules the money-grubbing Irish who seem to pray not for spiritual salvation, but only to save their pennies: "For men were born to pray and save"-that is, to mouth empty prayers and to fill the miserable greasy tills of their merchant establishments. The first three stanzas of this poem of four stanzas end with the refrain "Romantic Ireland's dead and gone,/It's with O'Leary in the grave." The poem pays eloquent tribute to the dead heroes of the past-O'Leary Edward Fitzgerald, Robert Emmet and Wolf Tone-the names that had "stilled your childish play." Men like them had little time to pray and precious little to save; for them "the hangman's rope was spun." Yeats breathes a sigh for all the forgotten "delirium of the brave" that now lies in the grave with these heroes. He is bitter enough to declare that could the years turn again and bring the heroes back like exiles, they would be merely considered crazy or 'mad' and not heroic or brave. The poem ends with a perceptible sigh: But let them be, they're dead and gone, They're with O'Leary in the grave. In a sense, this poem appears even more scathing than Blake's attack on all of humanity, perhaps because Yeats's personal feelings are quite undisguised and forcefully bitter. Yeats's "Easter 1916" is a poem written only three years after "September 1913" but entirely different in tone. In fact, it has been considered a palinode to the earlier poem in which the poet makes an unequivocal recantation. The poem commemorates the Easter Rebellion of 1916 which was put down by the British with strong measures that included the execution of sixteen of the leaders of the Rebellion. Yeats acknowledges his error in Being certain that they and I But live where motley is worn." In deliberate contrast to the mocking refrain of "September 1913" three of the four stanzas of this poem end with the spirit if not all the letters of a new refrain from the very first stanza: All changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. In the second stanza the refrain reflects the utter change by itself changing: Transformed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. In the last stanza, the poet names for the first time, four of the sixteen new martyrs and records that "now and in time to be" these heroes Are changed, changed utterly: A terrible beauty is born. . In the second stanza the poet had candidly referred to one of these four as a man he had considered a "drunken, vainglorious lout" who had "done most bitter wrong/To some who are near my heart." Yet, the poet numbers and names him in his verse, because his heroic death has transfigured all the dread o f his vainglorious past. The poet thus, as is surely unusual in an elegiac poem, does not gloss over the shortcomings of this hero although he forgives him his past trespasses. He uses the image of a stone to symbolize the determination of these martyrs and their dedication to their cause, without ignoring the fact that "Too long a sacrifice/Can make a stone if the heart." Moreover, Yeats does not shrink from recording his private fear whether the martyrdom of these heroes was "needless death after all/For England may keep faith/For all that is done and said." How admirable these lines are when one considers the fact that it is not the poet's duty to sing what his people would like to hear, but the song that the truth of his heart requires him to sing. However, whatever be his personal feelings of ambivalence, Yeats resolves to lay all such doubts to rest: We know their dreams, enough To know they dreamed and are dead; And what if excess of love Bewildered them till they died Yeats is thus more than willing to charitably attribute all the flaws of thought or judgment or even of character of these heroes to their "excess" of devotion to their cause and to give them the most handsome tribute any poet could pay any patriot anywhere. If the poet of "September 1913" could so generously eat his words in 1916, it only underscores the fact that the true poet will never neglect his duty to tell the truth. He may frequently need to reveal the dark side of human nature with the utmost pain in his heart. It is part of the pleasure of his existence that he is also, perhaps less frequently, privileged to proclaim the goodness of the human heart and soul where he is fortunate enough to bear witness to it. As the poems of Blake and Yeats demonstrate, the pains of experience are sometimes at least, alleviated by songs of innocence and unselfish sacrifice. References Blake, William. "The Human Abstract." Poems and Prophecies. London: Everyman, 1991. 31-32. ----."London." Poems and Prophecies. 31. Yeats, W.B. "Easter 1916." Yeats's Ireland: An Illustrated Anthology. Ed. Benedict Kelly. London: Aurum, 1989. 92. -----. "September 1913." Yeats's Ireland. 68. Read More