Many poems deal with the issue of the state of humanity. Focusing on any two poems, examine how the poem express and treat this subject.

“The Early Purges?by Seamus Heaney is about how we lose innocence. It is ambiguous and ironic. The poem recalls a particular incident of when young Heaney, as a boy, witnessed the farmhand killing kittens, and how the poet became used to this in time. Now, he writes, he has a similar indifference to the death of animals when, in fact, the young Heaney’s reaction is the one the poet really approves of. “The Early Purges?deals with the issue of the state of humanity by appearing to endorse the view that “sentiments?of the “living?are “false? The poem ends in an unconvincing clich?denying compassion ?“Pests have to be kept down?

Seamus Heaney aims to take a different degree of angle into this issue of humanity. In the poem, the sense of humanity is denied with the poet attempting to believe that fear and innocence fades away in time. Dan Taggart justifies action by suggesting that the kittens have no value ?“scraggy wee shits?and finally, the adult Heaney does the same ...