Essay Questions

What ideological view does Thomas Merton underscore in “Advice to a Young Prophet?”

Thomas Merton apprises an upcoming prophet about the inherence of evil in America when he writes, “O go home, brother, go home! /The devil’s back again,/And magic Hell is swallowing flies.” Therefore, ‘a young prophet’ should not be overambitious about altering American exclusively through the gospel. A fledgling prophet may be convinced about strapping the devil and conveying him to Hell, but the devil may outmaneuver him. Therefore, Thomas Merton endorses that the young prophet should employ the Structural-functionalist modus when he states, “America needs these fatal friends/Of God and country, to grovel in mystical ashes.” Evil is engrained in innumerable structures within the American; hence, the prophet should endeavor to effect a middle ground instead of embarking on an unmanageable venture of inexplicable overhauling the American structures.

What is the connotation of darkness in “The Dark Morning?”

The darkness elicits a melancholic, ambiguous mood. Thomas Merton writers, “ This is the black day when/ fog rides the ugly air:/water wades among the buildings/ To the prisoner’s curled ear.” The darkness clues that the prisoner will not have a delightful day by shrinking the liveliness that would be all-pervading on a sun-shiny day.

How does the imagery of an ‘ugly bird’ portray the unpleasantness of war?

Thomas Merton writes, “Germany has reared/A rare ugly bird,/But crows ate Roman pig/Before this bird was egg./And in the end of all/Crows will come back and sing the funeral.” The ‘rare ugly bird’ fashioned by German denotes the outrageous hostilities that German has initiated. The war is contemptible for it activates the annihilation of life as evidenced in the crows’ predation of the Roman pig. The crows epitomize the disparaging propensities of war that result in the colossal mortalities. The crows are duplicitous for singing in the funerals that they prompted. The non-mutual interrelationship between the ugly bird, the crow, the egg, the Roman pig and the funerals exemplifies the counterproductive nature of war.