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

The Dark Side of Literature - Essay Example "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: 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