Download “Poetry offers us insight into the darkest parts of humanity.” To what

“Poetry offers us insight into the darkest parts of humanity.”
To what extent do you agree with this view?
Discuss this idea with close reference to at least TWO poems.
The poetry of James K. Baxter offers the reader insight into the darkest parts of humanity.
Three poems by Baxter, “Ballad of Calvary Street”, “Elegy for an Unknown Soldier”, and
“The Maori Jesus”, all reveal to the reader the worst parts of our society. The evils dealt
with in these poems are diverse, revealing the evil of the disconnected middle class family,
war, and racism. Baxter gives us insight into these parts of humanity through his focus on
the loss that results from them. √He also uses imagery and Biblical allusion to prompt an
emotional response how?and make his ideas clearer still, and presents his poems as a
warning to his New Zealand readers. √Baxter’s communication of these darkest parts of
humanity is effective partially due to his own experience of these issues.
Baxter’s poems often look at what is lost when people succumb to the worst parts of
humanity. This is seen in “The Maori Jesus”, where Baxter claims that because of New
Zealand society’s racism, we would not notice if Christ returned as a Maori. The “Maori
Jesus”, after being mistreated in various ways merely “for being a Maori”, is lobotomised,
and so society loses what he had to offer them, entering instead into the ironic “civilised
darkness” which, like the lobotomised Jesus, is unable to think. Society therefore loses a
great man because of one of its great evils, racism. We also see what is lost due to evil in
“Elegy for an Unknown Soldier.” Influenced by his father, a conscientious objector in the
First World War, the poet reveals his utter disdain for war. Rather than describe the war,
however, Baxter looks closely at what the war has left behind. He describes the abilities
and personality of an ordinary “awkward” school boy, musing on what he has missed out
on due to being killed in the war. While in “The Maori Jesus” Baxter uses a Christ figure as
the victim of society’s evils, here he makes it clear that the unknown soldier is a perfectly
normal person – “nor did any new star shine” – yet demands that he receive recognition
nonetheless. The boy discovers “the miracle and menace of his body” and leaves to fight,
after telling his friends “tall stories of girls that he had never known”, and, as the reader
understands, never will know. This line especially reveals the loss due to the great evil that
Baxter believes war is.you obviously know the poem very well and can integrate evidence
Baxter uses imagery to reveal the worst aspects of humanity. In “Ballad of Calvary Street”,
Baxter describes how “bright as blood the roses bloom.” This simile creates a negative
image of blood out of the positive image of the rose, thus identifying a key theme in this
poem, as the family of characters create a facade of a happy family while privately
resenting one another. √This is another of the darkest parts of humanity identified by
Baxter, the disjoined, dysfunctional middle class family. Imagery is used throughout the
poem, until “National Mum and Labour Dad” are left to be “two birds that peck in one
fouled nest.” The use of the strong adjective “fouled” in this metaphor expresses Baxter’s
disgust at families like this one, which he would have been exposed to throughout his life.
Baxter also saw racism, including from the police, first-hand when he lived with the poor in
1968. Baxter’s prophecy of what would result from this racism is seen in “The Maori
Jesus”, and imagery is used throughout the poem to communicate this. Imagery relating to
light is particularly common. The Maori Jesus describes himself as “the Light in the Void,”
and it is also stated that “when he smiled it looked like the dawn.” This imagery creates a
positive impression of the Maori Jesus. When he is arrested “charged with being a Maori”,
and eventually lobotomised, the imagery shows the loss society has suffered. The “Light”
is replaced by “the darkness of the void”, and society is left in “civilised darkness”. Biblical
allusion is also continued in the lines, “On the eighth day the sun did not rise. It did not rise
the day after.” This metaphor, like the other light imagery, identifies the Maori Jesus as the
sun and so shows the terrible cost of the racism which destroys him.
“Poetry offers us insight into the darkest parts of humanity.”
To what extent do you agree with this view?
Discuss this idea with close reference to at least TWO poems.
This sun imagery is far from being the only use of Biblical allusion in Baxter’s poetry. As
previously mentioned, Christ figures are overtly present in both “The Maori Jesus” and
“Elegy for an Unknown Soldier.” In “The Maori Jesus”, the protagonist’s actions throughout
the poem are allusions to biblical events. Baxter describes him as smelling of “mussels
and paraoa,” creating a New Zealand specific version of the biblical story of the
multiplication of the loaves and fishes. He also picks out “his twelve disciples”, all of whom
fulfil middle-class stereotypes of poor Maori. These allusions are a result of Baxter’s
constant search for a fulfulling religion, converting first to Anglicanism, and later to
Catholicism. Religion was clearly very important to him, and his use of biblical allusion
shows the importance he placed on eradicating the darkness, such as racism, which he
saw in New Zealand society. To this end, Baxter also uses biblical allusion extensively in
“Ballad of Calvary Street”, showing how the family described is destroying the Christian
values they claim to uphold with their “sacred heart above the range.” The title itself is also
a reference to the hill on which Christ was crucified, suggesting that in this house Christian
values are being ‘put to death.’ “National Mum and Labour Dad” also “hang their hats on
an empty tomb”, the tomb left by the resurrected Christ.relate this section back to the
question = the darkest parts of humanity
A clear goal in Baxter’s poetry is to offer insight into the darkest aspects of humanity and
to warn against them. This is achieved through a focus on the tragic consequences of
such evils as racism, war, and the dysfunctional middle class family, the use of imagery,
and the use of biblical allusion to elevate these concerns and show how important it is that
they be eradicated. Through these methods, Baxter gives the reader this insight.
You know the poems well and have a clear structure – you integrate evidence to support
your argument – think about the comments I have made through the essay
ET5