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

The Dark Side of Literature - Essay ExampleLondon is a shortstop 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 Infants cry of fear, and in every other voice, the freedom-loving poet hears the mind-forgd manacles. The poet makes a specific attack on the replicate arms of power-the Church and the CrownPlainly, 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, yet by every man who thinks he can get his moneys worth from them-be the sum a few pence or much than a few guineas. It is the damn 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 unrelentingly, dreary in it s 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 flat seemingly benevolent emotions such as Pity 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 mutual fear that brings peace till selfishness waxes too great. Then, severeness 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 whence drops over his head and the Catterpiller and Fly/ Feed on the Mystery.The fruit of this corner appears Ruddy and sweet to eat but it has a canker at its internality 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 Na ture, but in Man-in the Human Brain.If in London Blake had seemed to sympathize with Chimney sweeper, with hapless soldier or young 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 poets task is not to be populist or to strive to be popular-he has to shine the light of his poesy 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