Human Kindness

The most obvious theme in this poem is revealed in its title: Kindness is one of the most cherished and hard-to-come-by values of the human race. As the work ultimately claims, kindness is the only thing “that makes sense anymore.” This conclusion is drawn from Nye's assessment of the negative observations she has made and her firm belief that good can triumph over bad.

“Kindness” is, essentially, a poem that speaks for itself. It is not mysterious or difficult to understand, and it uses simple, straightforward language to make its points clear. The central theme, however, is played out carefully in a series of both philosophical and graphic examples. For instance, Nye theoretically writes about feeling the “future dissolve” and about the “desolate . . . landscape . . . between the regions of kindness,” but she also very specifically details bus riders “eating maize and chicken” and “the Indian in a white...