Represents human nature Essay

The conscious decisions of people to act upon negative emotions, damages and ultimately destroys our relationships with fellow human beings. Gray explores this idea through ‘Poem to my Father’, a personal and confessional letter directed towards the persona’s father, whom is believed to be Gray’s father; a man who neglected Gray as a child as a result of his drinking, indifference and gambling. The persona believes that his father destroyed the paternal relationship and represents this through emotive language and words with negative connotations evoking emptiness and disconnection within ‘Poem to my Father’. ‘In you, now signifying nothing;†¦ That’s all there is to say. ’ The word ‘nothing’ displays the completeness of the disconnection while ‘all’ connotes an all-consuming idea. Thus when used together create the idea of all-consuming disconnection between the persona and his father. (Can talk about the use of punctuation. Full stop creates finality. )Gray contrasts the elements of nature with human nature in order to show humanity’s intrinsic destructive nature. This juxtaposition reveals the idea of nature destructing for replenishment, whereas humanity destructs subconsciously for satisfaction and self-fulfillment. Consequently the issue highlighted is that of human nature not allowing for complete satisfaction, resulting in a cycle of destruction for both the individual and the environment. Gray’s poem ‘Flames and Dangling Wire’ vividly explores the destruction of the natural environment due to humanity’s actions. ‘It is a man, wiping his eyes. Someone who worked here would have to weep†¦ Knowing all that he does about us, how can he avoid a hatred of men? ’ The imperative and emotive language tugs upon the reader’s heartstrings as the guilt of this man is placed upon the reader. The harsh imagery used earlier in the poem cumulates until this point of the poem, when responsibility is seen through the man’s pain. As a responder to the text, I believe that Gray recognizes this man’s innocence individually, as he tries to help through his work. Yet this man is still seen to be feeling the pain caused by the destruction of the environment, reflecting humanity’s responsibility as a whole and not simply a portion of the population. Gray therefore uses the didactic nature of his work to impart his value placed on the respect and protection of the environment. The selfishness of man is seen in the tenth stanza. ‘This is how it shall be after men have gone. It will be made of things that worked. ’ The future tense of this stanza assists in creating textual integrity and understanding within the poem. No matter the context of the reader, the future tense causes them to reflect upon their actions, furthering Gray’s didacticism within the text. The one phrase reflecting on the past within the stanza however, is ‘made of things that worked’. The idea portrayed by Gray is one of comparison. He compares the things ‘that worked’ – human’s creations which they have dumped – to nature’s creations and processes – things that will continue to work. Thus the comparison used by Gray is effective in exemplifying humanity’s short-term view and ultimately the intrinsic and often subconscious nature of destruction.