Money interacts with man at two levels in the poem. The poet makes it clear that the physical relationship man has with money is of necessity. Man needs money to earn bread for his living.
But, man’ collective madness for money makes him treat money as his master. Money becomes a prestige point. Money has so much attraction that if the man has to give up money, irrespective of whether it is a small or a large amount, man feels heavy pangs of loss. He finds money to be cruel. The poet says that human beings cower before money in strange *****. In depicting money as cruel and all-powerful, the poet moves on from the physical to the metaphoric meaning of money. However, this collective madness for money is the bane human beings have brought upon themselves and hence, r they have to help themselves if they have to be cured of this insanity.
