Humanity In Robert Penn Warren's Evening Hawk

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Immortality always fills the desires of man, always lusting to stand above all others by many means of wealth, intellect, and power. This sly impulse for a higher status exists as ancient as the story of Adam and Eve seeking to be like God by eating the forbidden fruits from the Tree of Good and Evil. Arguably a foundation of human nature, this greed is the subject in the poem “Evening Hawk” by Robert Penn Warren, with a shift from the everlasting perfection of nature to the pitiful aspirations of man to surpass the bounds of humanity. By using imagery sought to glorify the power of nature, an extended metaphor between nature and an all-powerful, omnipotent being, and a contrast between the perfection of nature and the awry attributes of humanity, …show more content…

Though impossible to comprehend, this breadth is effectively communicated by Warren to measure the intense power of nature. Through words such as “angularity” and “honed steel-edge”, Warren depicts this magnificence in terms of a brash, upholding truth, unbreakable and unreachable through the actions of man. In all of its forms, even those dolorous to mankind, such as the “black” nature of death and every articulation of “shadow”, nature plays the role of the ever-present creeping of Time inevitably “scythes down” to assure the impermanence of all mankind, without excepting the likes of …show more content…

A truly virtuous existence, but when studying the conclusions and behaviors drawn from the human understanding of self-awareness, an inferior viewpoint is established. With this hefty contrast of proficiency, Warren illuminates the differences in understanding to establish nature as this blameless judge over humanity, enveloping the entirety of humanity, since humans are a part of nature, and therefore can never flee from the natural law. Despite attempts, humans will always be “unforgiven” and retributions will weigh “heavy with the gold of our errors”, eternally marching in an existence bound by Time, until the consciousness of man is forfeited and judgment is enacted, by returning all forms of the physical human to the fundamental elements of