Unhappiness in Human Beings Essay - 1020 Words

In Thomas De Quinceys essay Confessions of an English Opium Eater, the speaker discusses the problems associated with drugs. He suggests that his dreams were accompanied by deep-seated anxiety and gloomy melancholy, such as are wholly incommunicable by words (971). However, sadness and gloom do not belong exclusively to addicts as Shelley points out in his poem To a Skylark. The everyday man also faces the same problem as De Quinceys opium eater as human beings have a tendency to focus on lifes sadness. In his poem, Shelley uses the joyous skylark as a contrast to man in order to express the idea that human beings live a seeming unfulfilled life as any pleasure found in life also comes with unhappiness.p The†¦show more content†¦/ Till the scent it gives / Makes faint with too much sweet these heavy-winged thieves (ll. 51-55). Unlike an ordinary rose, the flower to which the speaker associates the skylark with, has a scent extraordinarily sweet as it causes bees to feel faint. Thus, the skylark appears to also have an remarkable gift of happiness and joy which ordinary creatures do not have the capacity to feel. p Because of the skylarks unadulterated happiness, the speaker envies the birds freedom and immortality. The speaker opens the poem with the words, Hail to thee, blithe Spirit! / Bird thou never wert-- / That from heaven comes (ll. 1-3). Thus, it seems as though the skylark exists as a divine being or spirit worthy of worship, rather than a mere bird. It comes from heaven which reinforces its blessed nature. Also, the fact the speaker hail[s] to the bird suggests that he worships and praises the skylark. Furthermore, the speaker announces that I have never heard / Praise of love or wine / That panted forth a flood of rapture so divine (ll. 63-65). The larks song appears so astonishingly sweet that it amazes the speaker. In fact, its sweet melody brings forth a flood of rapture so divine, once again drawing attention to the notion that the lark lives a heavenly, immortal life as its extreme happiness causes divine joy. The word so emphasizes the fact that the larks happiness and celestial nature farShow MoreRelatedEssay about A Freudian Reading of Oedipus Rex and Antigone1413 Words   |  6 PagesA Freudian Reading of Oedipus Rex and Antigone   Ã‚  Ã‚   In Civilization and Its Discontents, Freud postulates that the chief source of conflict within the human psyche is between the id, ego, and superego. The id contains all of the primal urges of a person, such as rage, sex, or violence, and these drives are projected onto the ego, which is the source of rational thought. Hence, many of our conscious thoughts are affected by these urges. 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