Two poems, which deal with the topic of human cruelty, are “Ol’Higue” by Mark

McWatt and “A Lesson For This Sunday” by Derek Walcott.

In “Ol’Higue” the poet presents human cruelty towards other humans, babies,
through the eyes of an old demon-like woman who preys on these babies. The
poem describes in great detail the immense temptation, which plagues this old
woman to drink the blood of babies as seen in the lines “If only babies didn’t taste
so nice! And if only I could stop”. The poet also uses the simile “Burning myself
out like a cane-fire” to show how much energy the old woman has to spend in a
short amount of time to obtain such a trivial amount of blood. These lines as well
as rhetorical questions in the first stanza “And for what? A few drops of baby
blood?” clearly show an unwillingness and regret from the old woman to do such
cruel acts. However, it is overridden by her great temptation of the babies
‘newness’ and the fact that they grant her immortality as seen in the line “Of that
pure blood running in new veins, singing the sweet song of life”. In the last stanza
of the poem, the old woman begins to provide excuses and reasons for her human
cruelty saying that she gives mothers a person to blame and a person to direct their
hatred toward when their infant dies.

In “A Lesson For This Sunday”, the poet presents human cruelty towards nature as
the poet witnesses two children kill a butterfly for their enjoyment. Unlike in
“Ol’Higue” the children performs cruet actions because they want to and show no
remorse or regret. The simile “Crouched on plump haunches, as a mantis prays”
compares the children to predators and the butterfly to their prey. The children take
great joy in dissecting this butterfly unlike the old woman in the first poem. The
poet also uses the simile “Frail as a flower” to describe the little girl highlighting
that even the most peaceful looking person is capable of human cruelty. The simile
also highlights the fragility of life, just as the butterflies’ life is fragile and can be
risked at any moment, so too is human life. The first stanza of the poem describes a
peaceful and serene environment however it is ruined when the children display
human cruelty. The contrast in the mood and tone before and after the children also
highlights how vile and destructive their actions were.