Human Beings

Human Beings is a poem written by Adrian Mitchell, born in 1932. The title of the inspirational poem summarise the content of the text perfectly. By reading the title you get the exact perspective that the author want you to have. “Human Beings” is a wide syntax, but concrete enough to make us understand what the poem is about. The poem is about every single human being in the world, and how special and unique we are. Human Beings cannot be compared with a parrot, an ape or a smart missile, and we should not be divided by our nation, because we are all beautiful humans with extraordinary qualities.

It is obvious that the author have a specific plan with his use of words. The strong word “no” is repeated many times in the poem, especially in one stanza, where the author make a impression by writing that human beings are “not British, not American, not Israeli” etc. The author use repetition of words as a device to make the reader understand the meaning of the text. Especially the word “human” is frequently used.

The poem has no capital letters or full stops. In most instances that would be impractical, but the author structure the words in an understandable and stylish way, which make a good rhythm. The use of words also gives the poem a special tone. The use of concrete words and sentences gives us a specific impression, but in the same time the poem make the reader think and wonder about the atrocities of war and racism because of different cultures and nations. This is probably the purpose with the poem. The author describes this good in very few words: “look at your face which can freeze into horror or melt into love.”

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