Literature reminds man of his impact on his environment,
others around him and himself. When man's arrogance goes unchecked there is a
negative effect on the world around him (polllution and racism, for example).
Literature reveals man's impact on human beings through the
representation of slaves. As Nuve said, With the use of shock value and slave
narratives to “defamiliarize” the status quo perceptions of slaves, and
slavery, there came a certain Euro-American sentimentalism spreading via novels
and poetry regarding the conditions of the slaves". The poem by William
Cowper, "Sweet Meat Has Sour Sauce", functions as a wakeup call to
the atrocity that is slavery. The poem uses the tune from "For He's a
Jolly Good Fellow". This makes the audience lower its guard; this tune is
familiar, something that the audience is used to. Once the audience is open to
the material the subtext can take effect. The poem gives very concrete images:
“Here’s padlocks and bolts...That squeeze them so lovingly till the blood comes".
These images are graphic and meant to arose pathos in the audience.
The repetition of "Which nobody can deny, deny" is
very effective. In the context of "For He's a Jolly Good Fellow" the
repetition builds on the good feeling for the person being congratulated. In
"Sweet Meat Has Sour Sauce" "which nobody can deny" has a
different meaning, here it is the atrocities committed against slaves. This has
an eerie effect; the reality of the situation was there all along and yet
society was blind to it. Man was acquiring monumental achievements, but at the
expense of slaves.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” explores the impact of
man’s actions on more than just one level.
There is of course the literal story itself. A cautionary tale, “The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner” demonstrates the pitfalls of bad decision making and explores man’s
vices: pride, ignorance, and rashness among others. As Khetarpal states, “He lives a hellish life
on this earth, speaking beyond his grave.
He is like a ghost warning everybody about the harsh punishment and
consequences of sinning against the creation of God.” The Ancient Mariner as a character is an
effective warning sign for non-religious as well as religious readers,
having a virtue based moral and a
religious one.
On the other hand, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
functions as an allegory for slavery.
The poem starts out with a marriage, an institution that is socially
acceptable and in that sense, similar to slavery. From there Coleridge makes an extended
allegory for waking up to man’s crimes against his fellow man through the
institution of slavery (before the poem ends the Wedding Guest becomes “a
sadder and a wiser man”). Man commits a
grave sin by killing the Albatross, one that he spends the rest of the poem
trying to fully understand. The moral of
the poem (if any one moral could be attached to this massive and complicated
work) is “prayeth well, who loved well both men and bird and beast.”
The sun becomes an image for God’s punisher. It functions as a symbol of God’s awareness
of the sins of man. To a sailor this
image would have been especially effective.
With a sailor’s reliance of the sun for navigation, he would be acutely
aware of its presence the entire working day.
So to see the sun as something that is watching and administering
punishment.
The poem is ultimately calling for man to recognize that his
actions have consequences. As Kimberly
Zins states:
“the osmotic process illustrates that all creatures deserve
deference and equality, as this natural course of action undertakes
balance. Realistically, equality is
unachievable, but any attempt to effect equality will help cause equilibrium.”
“Rime of the Ancient Mariner” tries to move humanity towards
equilibrium. Coleridge knew that slavery
would probably not end in his lifetime, but the more energy that went towards
the eradication of slavery the sooner humanity would evolve.
Literature also reminds man of the impact his actions have
on his physical environment. Lord Byron's "Darkness" is a perfect
example of this. Man is described as
desperate, “And men forgot their passions in the dread/Of this their
desolation; and all hearts/Were chill’d into a selfish prayer for light”. The sun is extinguished, and the sky is
moonless. Eventually man must turn
towards cannibalism. This is man at his
most forlorn, clutching on to survival in an apocalyptic vision.
The poem also implies that man has brought about this vision
through his own actions. The sun being
“extinguished” suggests that it did not simply burn out, something extinguished
it. Nature is presented as responding to
man’s behavior. There is also the
historical context of the poem. As was
mentioned in Andrew’s presentation, “acid rain may have caused major
environmental damage.” Man’s actions
were having a noticeable effect on the environment as industries began to grow
and pollution became more of a problem.
Byron critiques the progress of man by challenging the worth
of man’s so called achievements. In this
apocalyptic vision humanity’s values have changed. Things which were important are now worthless,
“The palaces of crowned kings—the huts,/The habitations of all things which
dwell,/Were burnt for beacons; cities were consumed”. Byron sees these as false symbols of
stability. Byron argues that hierarchies
crumble, kingdoms fall apart, and man eventually resorts to bloodshed. This is contrary to man’s arrogance which
thinks that dynasties promote balance, that bloodshed prevents more bloodshed.
This poem could be connected to “The Great Day of His Wrath”
by John Martin
Man is not portrayed in a sentimental light. With the exception of the image of the dog
defending his owner, Byron’s “Darkness” is very unsentimental. Death is depicted as unforgiving, devouring
even the dog. In the painting man is
seen as small, desperate, and abandoned.
The corpses are hard to make out, and though they are at the forefront
of the painting they are almost unnoticeable.
The attention is on nature and its sublimity. The title also connects biblical connotations
of judgment day. The implication is that
God is responding to man’s behavior through nature. Similarly, “Darkness” connects to the
apocalyptic image of the sun burning out in the bible. Both texts depict a scene of man being
punished for his behavior; he is finally fully realizing the consequences of
his actions.
“Hannibal Crossing the Alps”, though not an apocalyptic
painting, depicts the relationship between man and nature in a similar
way. The emphasis is on nature; the sun
and clouds form an awe-inspiring monster like form. Man is depicted as minute in comparison. Yes, you have the monumental figure Hannibal’s
crossing of the Alps was a huge historical achievement and yet here it is not
man that is depicted as great. Man is
small and at the mercy of nature (there is even on figure that looks as though
he is praying to nature with outstretched arms). This is the sublime, portrayed in a similar
way to “Darkness” and “The Great Day of His Wrath.” This diminishing of man works to counteract
man’s arrogance and bring about balance.
Finally, literature warns against the impact man has on his
own psyche. One text that explores this
in an unorthodox way is "Frankenstein".
This text is so original in that its critique applies even to its own
medium. The image of the Romantic writer
is challenged. Frankenstein is a
caricature of the “ideal Romantic writer” in that he is overly immersed in
solitude. This solitude, which was so
highly regarded by many Romantic writers, does not create something of beauty. More importantly, the monster is more than
Frankenstein can handle. This is a
critique of the project of the Romantic writer.
Shelley is saying that even if something is produced out of solitude it
may be more than the artist can handle.
It may destroy the artist psychologically. This is movement against the current of
Romantic thought, many Romantic writers had no problem trading in their mental
wellbeing in order to make art. What
Shelley is critiquing is a denial of the effects of these artistic endeavors. Artists of his time were not giving adequate
consideration to their own health. Yes,
making art can be important, but where does it stand in one’s value
system? Is it more important than being
healthy? What about being happy? These were questions that were not asked
often enough according to Shelley.
These questions can also be explored in new ways through
modern interpretations of the work:
"Frankensteins
Womb":
"Frankenstein":
http://books.google.com/books?id=VyW_Jpi9D9wC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=true
Both works focus on separate aspects of Shelley’s original
project. “Frankenstein’s Womb” focuses on
the bleakness of the original, the darkness, the horror. Everything from the art style of the dry, cynical
dialogue is consistent. This is
important because it contrasts with the idealistic view of solitude held by
some Romantic artists. I think Shelley
would have approved of this approach to his work.
“Frankenstein” effectively focuses on the aesthetical ideal
of beauty. Frankenstein’s interpretation
of beauty in the graphic novel adaptation is consistent with the book:
“I had selected his features as beautiful…but now that I had
finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust
filled my heart.”
Here there is a presentation of a movement between the
expectation of beauty versus the reality of the creation. This supports part of Shelley’s argument, that
the artist in solitude may not be prepared for his own creation. The graphic novel, like the book, emphasizes
this disappointment.
Man has an enormous capacity to create. Building structures,
developing new ideas and industries—man has in one sense achieved a lot. There are negative consequences of these
actions, however; achievement comes at the expense of the enslavement of
certain groups, and ensuring the safety of the environment is often low on the
priority list for the leaders of industrialism.
The real danger of these negative effects is that they are
often so far from the minds of man.
Negative impact is not understood for its accruing nature. What results is a cultivated ignorance for
those with power, which is dangerous.
Literature counteracts this tendency.
Literature is cathartic; it gives an avenue for the part of society that
wants to improve, the part of society that wants to heal itself. Literature is self-aware. Literature is lucid.
Drawing back to a post by Owls are awesome regarding a quote
by Wordsworth: “In consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish
solicitude we have eyes, yet see not, and hearts that neither feel or
understand.” By using allegory
literature can make us reevaluate the way we see the world, pulling us out of
the grooves of habitual thought. It is a
creative medium that sparks creativity and argument and if man has any chance
of saving himself from self-destruction literature will play a vital role in
that salvation.
Works Cited
Cowper, William, and Humphrey Sumner
Milford. The Complete Poetical Works of William Cowper. London, NY: Humphrey
Milford, 1913. Print.
Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. “The Rime
Of The Ancient Mariner.” Poetry X. Ed. Jough Dempsey. 7 Jul 2003. 08 May. 2013
http://poetry.poetryx.com/poems/624/.
Khetarpal, Abha; Singh,
Satendra.Indian Journal of Psychological Medicine 34.2 (Apr 2012):193-196
Zins,
K. (2008). Equilibrium in coleridge's THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER. The
Explicator, 66(4), 194-196. Retrieved from http://search.proquest.com/
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