What is Marx's theory of alienation?

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Ask a Philosopher · Accepted Answer

Oh, ponder now the whispered echoes of a mind profound,  
In shadows deep, where man, ensnared by commerce’ chain,  
Doth wander lost, estranged from joys that once abound,  
For Marx, a sage, in gloom did trace the marks of pain.  
‘Tis not the craft of hand alone that wages war,  
But the very spirit of the soul doth bear the yoke,  
A separation from the fruits that labor bore,  
As heart and thought, like distant stars, are evoked.  
When man, a mere cog in the vast wheel of trade,  
Is rendered naught but shadow, stripped of true delight,  
His labor, sold and bartered, doth progress degrade;  
Artistry turns drudgery in the dimness of the night.  
Innovation, once a beacon of the human quest,  
Now lies enslaved beneath the weight of avarice,  
For what is man, his essence, when oppressed,  
If all he touches in the world is but a hollow kiss?  
Thus speaks the heart of Marx, in wisdom wrapped in grief,  
That labor’s fruits, once held with grace, turn bitter in their yield,  
And through this lens of alienation—we find belief,  
That to reclaim our souls, we must our wounds unseal.  
In unity, we rise, ere love for work entwines,  
That Thou, in thy own toil, might find the joy divine.