The Greed of Man

The poem The Greed of Man shows readers what is bound to happen to the Earth because of the selfish nature of men. Through the tone of the speaker, the figurative language and rhetoric devices used, and the rhythm and rhyme, the poem exemplifies the Macbeth theme of insatiable greed, and its eventual destruction of the Earth.

The poem The Greed of Man begins by describing many of the Earth’s pleasures and attractive features. The unknown author continues this for over half of the poem. In this section of the poem, the author sounds very happy and upbeat, and is describing the world very positively, as he does in line 1 “The majesty of mountains fills the heart and mind with awe”. Again, in line 5 “The trees that grow on sloping sides reach [u]pwards to the sky”, in line 7 “The birds that live within its mantle live and play and die”. All of these lines are describing what the author calls “this wonderland” (11). Then, the author turns to a more serious and melancholy note. He claims “this paradise is gone” (12), and explains what men have done to allow this to happen. He cites industrialization “The thunder of the engines” (13), pollution “smell of acrid smoke” (13), and endangerment of species “Natures creatures living here can give up all their hope” (14) as main reasons why the world as we know will give way to a much, much different world. He finishes by noting that the greedy men of this generation have ruined the world, but they are not the ones who will suffer from their wrongdoings “but it’s our children who will pay” (16).

Two of many popular poetic strategies are rhetoric devices and figurative language. Rhetorical devices make the poem less straightforward, thus allowing it to be more sophisticated. For e...

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... become free verse, giving him more room to make adjustments. Overall, the poems ideas were very thoughtful, as well as relevant to the Macbeth theme of greed. On the other hand, the poet’s choice of poetic mechanics left much to be desired.

This poem exemplifies the Macbeth theme of man’s greed, and its inevitable destruction of the Earth through the tone of the speaker, the figurative language and rhetoric devices used, and the rhythm and rhyme. This poem represents a theme of Macbeth by reminding everybody that the Earth we live on is valuable, and if one man attempts to gain too much of it, he will ultimately destroy the very possessions he sought.

Works Cited

"A Poem - The Greed of Man - GrownUps New Zealand." GrownUps - New Zealand's 50 Community Website. Web. 08 Mar. 2010. .