The Hardships of Mankind
At first glance you might say that Bertolt Brecht's poem "The World's One Hope" is very similar to W.H. Auden's "Musee des Beaux Arts." Brecht's poem is about the oppression of mankind and Auden writes about mankind's suffering, both being hardships mankind may face. Each writer takes a different approach to the subject and writes in totally different ways about related issues. Auden, in his writing makes suffering out to be beautiful and musical. It flows like a song and because of that it downplays suffering. "Musee de Beaux Arts" is more of a protest poem. It comes across as being so beautiful and in doing that doesn't really allow its readers to feel anything. This is also more of a spectoral poem because Auden has written about suffering, but doesn't call on you to become involved. In the first lines of the poem, he talked about The Old Masters. He said that they were never wrong and they understood suffering. The poem suggests that you can't escape suffering in these first few lines, because if the Old Masters knew about suffering and its human condition, it has been around for a while and we all should just accept that and move on. Auden uses Brueghel's Icarus as an example of suffering,
When Brecht wrote about the Egyptians he was just showing us even more that this is a serious issue that has been around for far too long. The more people suffer, the more natural it becomes that there are people suffering all over the world. " Another difference between the two poems is that Auden is telling us that the problem is suffering, while Brecht's believes that the problem is that we are putting up with the oppression and the suffering. They hate it, but it is all they know. This shows that the youth are protected from danger and from oppression, but there is no one protecting the men and women all over the world who are oppressed day in and day out. In class we discussed how Auden took the painting out of its original context and made it out to mean the exact opposite of what it was made to represent. Human beings put up with these conditions because it is all they know, and people who are oppressed can not have compassion for others who are oppressed because it is all they know. There are too many people living and working in this world and not getting the credit or the payment they deserve. Brecht writes, "Is oppression as old as the moss around ponds? The moss around ponds is not avoidable. The main difference between Auden's and Brecht's poems I want to point out is that Brecht uses real world scenarios to show mankind being oppressed, while Auden uses the mythical image of Icarus. Brecht is calling for an end to suffering and oppression, and he is asking for our help. This is a dominant ideology that Brecht is asking us to change. Brecht is trying to call our attention to the subject and get us to take some action before it's too late. When Icarus fell from the sky, no one noticed.
Common topics in this essay:
Bertolt Brecht,
Auden's Brecht's,
Beaux Arts,
Arts Brecht's,
Brueghel's Icarus,
example suffering,
Hardships Mankind,
Auden's Musee,
World's Hope,
people suffering,
moss ponds,
Bertolt Brecht's,
section oppression,
bertolt brecht,
beaux arts,
compassion oppressed,
real world,
brecht calling,
suffering beautiful,
|
Acceptance Essays
