Mankind For The Warpath And Destruction example essay topic

By: Donald Goode Dramatic events in the world cause people to vent their frustrations in many ways. This can be done in a verbal speech, a written article, and act of violence, or a poem of thought. A poem of thought is what Richard Eberhart has done in, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment". The theme of this poem is described with questions and angry emotion. Who is the poet angry at? Is it mankind, for the warpath and destruction it creates?

Or is it God, who lets this destruction happen in its uncertainty? Richard Eberhart uses harsh descriptive words in his poem to define the emotions. An example of this is located in the first paragraph. He states, "You would think the fury of aerial bombardment would rouse God to relent" (808). The key word here is fury. Fury in this instance is a direct description of a violent occurrence, like the destructive path from a hurricane, or a tornado.

The author is wondering why God allows this type of destruction to happen to innocent people. This is evident when he says, "Would rouse God to relent; the infinite spaces" (808). The poet wonders why God will not soften the blow from a bombing, or stop mankind from enabling this capability for destruction. In an interview between Frank Anthony and Richard Eberhart, Frank asks Richard if he has any reflections on his famous poem, "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment"? Richard's response was, "Yes, I do". He spoke of the second line with the words, "The infinite spaces are still silent".

He gave a brief description of a philosopher he studied that talked about looking up at the stars on a quiet night and, "was filled with the awe at PAGE 2 the vastness of the universe and the shortness of human duration". This focus here is that no matter how bad life can get, there is still a great silence in the wonders of the universe and the questions asked in life (Eberhart). The fifth line begins the author's question of why God does not let mankind feel sorry for what we have done. The word he uses here is repent. The words tell the readers that God can kill like we can, but in so many different ways. The word that keys us to this is multitudinous.

And he states that God can do this out of his own free will. Line eight says, "No farther advanced than in his ancient furies". (Eberhart 808). This can be perceived from two different ways also. The first would be using God as the subject. God can take life in the same manner that he has done for centuries and will not need technology or advancements.

The second subject is mankind. Mankind can kill with further advancement, but the reasons for the killing is exactly the same reasons that have been fought over and pondered on for centuries. This could be politics, theft, greed, and sickness. Line nine brings an interesting question that can cause the reader to think about the poem long after it was read. "Was man made stupid to see his own stupidity?" (Eberhart, "Norton Anthology of Poetry" 18400). How is this to be interpreted?

People try to learn from their mistakes. As evolution will have it, we develop biological adaptation to environments over generations through traits. This helps our offspring survive later in life. Mankind continues to develop new technology that makes our current way of life easier and more adaptable. Mankind also develops more powerful weapons to stop, stun, and destroy its' political enemy.

It is arguable that we learn from PAGE 3 our mistakes in the appropriate manner. Instead of figuring out how man cannot kill masses of people through bombings, developers think about killing mass people in precision with smaller numbers. The targeted group is usually militant, but the point here is that we are still killing. It is taking us hundreds of years to realize our mistakes and attempt to learn from them. The basic problems still exist. The poet asked next, "Is God by definition indifferent, beyond us all?" (Eberhart 808) This proves to be very interesting because God is supposed to be the power and authority for all creations.

The author is now wondering why God can kill at will, but mankind shouldn't. This question is only a state of opinion. It may very well be that it is within our power and mind to do as we wish. In this instance, mankind is questioning God to the reader.

The next line says, "Is the eternal truth man's fighting soul?" (Eberhart 808) This question makes readers wonder if internal conflict and fighting is what life about. The poet is asking and wondering if it is true that mankind has to search for their own solutions and experience problems without assistance from God. The last four lines depict names of casualties, probably of war, that are viewed on a list. This could be a wall, or a document, or a flash memory of names that were heard. The author clearly states that he did not know these people, but he does know that they died before their time. The poet says, "But they are gone to early death", meaning the people died before they were intended (Eberhart 808).

In the last line Eberhart says, "Distinguished the belt feed lever from the belt holding pawl". This is a description of a machine gun. Line twelve mentions, "Wherein PAGE 4 the Beast ravens in its own avidity?" The reader can relate "belt holding pawl" to the hand of the beast (808). The author of the poem is questioning the reasons mankind use to kill in a time of war or conflict.

Anger and frustration in answering this question is aimed at God for letting this reoccurrence continue. The concluded theme for this poem can be: it is mankind's charge to learn and live in peace, not God's. God is an observer that gave man a free will. His reasons for killing and taking life are a justifiable question, but mankind is continuing to search for justification when there is no real answer. It is up to mankind to figure out their meaning in life and learn from their mistakes. PAGE 5

Bibliography

Eberhart, Richard, American Poet. "The Fury of Aerial Bombardment". Literature: An Introduction To Fiction, Poetry, And Drama. Eighth Edition Norton Anthology of Poetry, The. Alexander W. Allison and others, eds. (3d ed., 1983) W.
W. Norton & Company. (18400) Anthony, Frank.