Tuesday, November 4, 2008

3

The poem “In the Secular Night” shows tragic flaw of humans. The theme of this poem is that rejecting the sacred and seeking fulfillment from the world, leads to dissatisfaction, loneliness and emptiness. This is a tragic flaw of human beings that people always chase after satisfaction and comfort. However, what do most of people get? Satisfaction? In my opinion, people who only pursuit happiness and chase after their own satisfaction often time end up destroying themselves. Also, this poem shows the human tendency to feel lonely. In Chinese character, human is 人. The shape of this letter represents two people leaning against each other. This shows that humans cannot live by themselves but live together with other people, helping each other and satisfying others which also satisfy themselves. This poem’s message is enhanced for me when I relate it to hamartia because I can clearly see the poet’s intention and message of the poem. Also, it is easier to relate to my own life if the poet’s message refers to a flaw of human beings because everyone has that flaw. In addition, I feel the connection with the characters in the poem because it is talking about the flaws that I have also.

2 comments:

Mr and Mrs L said...

Andrew, I like how you have pulled in the example of the Chinese character for the word human. That is so interesting, and so apt. Nicely done.

HyoJung Chang said...

People chase after satisfaction and happiness, but they are never satisfied. The idea of Chinese letter and loneliness was very interesting. On Michelle's post, she stated that humans are all on a journey, which no one else can comprehend or fully understand, but I can also see this can be connected with your idea. Though we are on our own journey, we always tend to find someone to rely on and depend on like the Chinese character.