Sherece Usher
Professor Wexler
M 4:00-6:45
18 February 2013
All
Under the Upper Hand
As a result of the
evolutionary process the human brain unlike any other organism on earth has the
ability to analyze information and critically think, which is not apparent in
any other living animal. This evolutionary perk has created a hierarchy in the
animal kingdom with humans dominating at the top of the pyramid. With this
power man began to place value on lives of all living thing, from insects to
other human beings as well. In the poem “To A Mouse” by Robert Burns the
tyranny of mans dominion is illustrated through the encounter of a well of
farmer and a helpless mouse whose winter home has been destroyed.
Robert Burn,
Romantic and National poet displayed both aspects in his poem “To A Mouse”.
Written in Scots dialect and set in the countryside when a farmer comes across
a mouse while plowing. The farmer notices the poor animal is terrified of him
as well as his winter home and food destroyed with no time to prepare with the
weather change nearing. The first stanza states “Wee, sleekit, cow'rin,
tim'rous beastie/ O, what a panic's in thy breastie/ Thou need na start awa sae
hasty, / Wi' bickering brattle” (Burns
1-4. Within these lines the speaker addresses the poor animals panic by stating
that it is in no harm and there is no need to panic and run away. The following
lines “ I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee,/ Wi' murd'ring pattle!” (Burns
5-6) reassure the animal that it would be unjust to chase the mouse with intent
to kill and that no such thing will happen. In lines 7-12, the speaker goes on
to express that it is a shamed that despite the kinship that should naturally
occur between all animals on Earth, due to mans dominance on Earth it is
acceptable to take on the God-like role of deciding the fate of those
considered beneath them.
The speaker goes
on to expresses sympathy for the poor animal and understanding behind the his
actions in lines 13-14 that goes as follows, “I doubt na, whiles, but thou may
thieve/ What then? poor beastie, thou maun live” (Burns 13-14). In the lines the speaker explains that he
knows the little mouse steals from the crop, but it is not a great crime for
the moue must find a way to survive as well. The speaker goes on to state, “A
daimen icker in a thrave/ 'S a sma' request/ I'll get a blessin wi' the lave/ An'
never miss't” (Burns line 15-17), exclaiming that the small piece of the
speakers crop that the mouse steal often goes unnoticed and that the crop is so
bountiful that he will have more than enough to survive.
The speaker in
stanzas four and five expresses compassion for the little mouse’s house that
was destroyed in only one stroke of the plough. The speaker touches on the time
and effort that was placed into planning ahead of time for the winter.
Reiterating how the mouse carefully collected items and stored away food during
the harvest, so when the chill of winter came, and land was no longer abundant
that it would be able to survive. The speaker goes on in stanza six to explain
to the little mouse that often planning ahead does not go, as we would like. In
the famous line “The best-laid schemes o’ mice and men/ Gang aft agley” (Burns
line 45), the speaker explains that just the plans of mice and men often go
awry, making similar in many ways. However the poem ends with the speaker
envying the little mouse, explain that while his worry is instantaneous and
only of the present, unlike the speaker who has memories to look back on and
can not see the nothing in the future besides fear.
Overall the poem
expresses the tyranny of man’s dominion, although the two creatures are closer
than they believe to be. Burns sympathy for all creatures in expresses in David
Perkins article “Human Mouseness: Burns and Compassion for Animals” as it
states,
He does not
idealize animals as nature; he does not –to mention other common reasonings
then—bring forward the religious point that God loves all His creatures and so
should we; he does not attempt persuasion by snobbery—brutal heartness was, as
I said, attributed to the lower classes. Instead Burns takes for granted that
animals and humans are fellow mortals” (Perkins 3).
By showing the commonalities in
animals and humans, Burns invokes sympathy from the reader for animals, and
other creature in general. With burns stating that the two are “fellow mortals”
it shows that there really should be a compassion that humans should show to
animals and with a deeper level to one another.
While
the poem focuses on the relationship of a human and an animal, the mouse being a
smaller helpless creature serves as an analogy to the treatment of the poor in
society. While the wealthy could afford to spare what little the less fortunate
need to simply survive and have more than enough for themselves, they instead
treat the poor as if they are not worthy of life. In the article “Brig O Doon”
by Chris sharp it discusses Burns egalitarian poet, citing “To A Mouse” in the
following:
Thus Robert, a
lively young man and reasonably educated, became politically aware of domestic
and international issues concerning justice... Eventually these influences
reveal themselves in such poems as "The Ruined Farmer" and "To A
Mouse." The later poem is often derided as a childish trifle, but John
Steinbeck, for example, was cognizant of its egalitarian innuendo when he
paraphrased the line: "The best laid schemes o' Mice and Men."
To A Mouse, illustrates how we are
all under the upper hand, and if only we recognized how little it takes to help
pne alother we could be in a better place. However with dominion man has become
tyrannical, deciding with mortal hand looked upon as if they were Gods, who is
worthy of life and who is not. We all can see that just as mice, the plans of
man often go awry, leaving nothing but grief and pain.
Works Cited
Sharp, Chris. "Brig O' Doon." British Heritage 30.4 (2009): 26-31.Academic Search Elite. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
Perkins, David. "Human Mouseness: Burns And Compassion For Animals." Texas Studies In Literature & Language 42.1 (2000): 1. Academic Search Elite. Web. 18 Feb. 2013.
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