Gods
Gods - meaning Summary
False Idols Reflect Power
Hughes critiques idolized figures and material symbols that dominate people’s lives. The poem contrasts ostentatious idols—ivory, ebony, diamond, jade—with the fearful populace who treat them as authoritative. He then reveals these gods are not divine but mere puppets created by humans, exposing the emptiness of misplaced reverence and the social construction of power and worship.
Read Complete AnalysesThe ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond and jade, Sit silently on their temple shelves While the people Are afraid. Yet the ivory gods, And the ebony gods, And the gods of diamond-jade, Are only silly puppet gods That the people themselves Have made.
Feel free to be first to leave comment.