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Comment 1 of 1, added on July 18th, 2006 at 4:01 PM.
This is part of a larger body of work. There are so many theories, critical analysis and books on the collection as a whole that finding the deeper meanings can easily be sought.
I like the idea that the preludium introduces the characters and the conflicts. There is the daughter who can not speak "for never from her iron tongue could voice or sound arise" and for some reason she is there, taking care of the chained up Orc--who has been in this condition for 14 years ("fourteen suns"). Orc tells the dark virgin that he has not been defeated "while still on high my spirits soar". He has been checking her out for some time "I howl my joy: and my red eyes seek to behold thy face". He then breaks the chains and rapes her. She does two things that are interesting--she "smiles her first-born smile" and she speaks. Towards the end of her speech, she comments about pain being mingled with death, and that it was foretold.
I am choosing to read this as a myth--a poem myth. I know there are deeper meanings, but for now,...just to focus on the story. It seems her vision takes on some of his vision, with references to Canada, the eagle, etc. She doesn't seem bothered that she has been raped, although she admits to "limb rending pains". There seems to be a sense of liberty. She has been watching him, feeding him, hearing his moans for some time. She knew he was dangerous, and yet she didn't do enough to safeguard herself. Even he mocks her cloud coverings.
The fact that she is a virgin, and he is a hairy youth brings up another image to explore. She perhaps lacks experience in deeper matters, and merely does as she is told and what she is directed to do. He, being a youth, and hairy, could mean that he has been neglected with his physical needs, but has the fire and energy that youths possess when wanting to bring about change. She seems to reflect the innocence of the expected "virgin" of the times, whereas Orc seems to symbolize more of the spirit of rebellion--as with the revolutions associated with the time period.
In her utterance is revealed the land of America. Orc's actions are linked with the struggles that exist. Change. Revolution. Pain. "Endur'd by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep" is could mean that America has or is in the process of freeing itself from England's tyranny. I know the poem is written in 1793, and that America declared it's freedom much earlier that this date--but, change, true change, is a process. No country can be free without some systems still in place, or some levels of thinking from the "old systems", laws, etc. that need to be altered.
When she utters that Orc is "the image of God who dwells in darkness of Africa", I take it that at that moment Orc is almost like Adam back in the Garden of Eden, which some believe was located in Africa. At that moment of her new found liberation, somehow she is meeting Orc/Adam as God intended man to be--free and in charge; not dominated by systems.
dallas
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Copyright © 2003-2008 Gunnar Bengtsson, Poetry Connection. All Rights Reserved.
This is part of a larger body of work. There are so many theories, critical analysis and books on the collection as a whole that finding the deeper meanings can easily be sought.
I like the idea that the preludium introduces the characters and the conflicts. There is the daughter who can not speak "for never from her iron tongue could voice or sound arise" and for some reason she is there, taking care of the chained up Orc--who has been in this condition for 14 years ("fourteen suns"). Orc tells the dark virgin that he has not been defeated "while still on high my spirits soar". He has been checking her out for some time "I howl my joy: and my red eyes seek to behold thy face". He then breaks the chains and rapes her. She does two things that are interesting--she "smiles her first-born smile" and she speaks. Towards the end of her speech, she comments about pain being mingled with death, and that it was foretold.
I am choosing to read this as a myth--a poem myth. I know there are deeper meanings, but for now,...just to focus on the story. It seems her vision takes on some of his vision, with references to Canada, the eagle, etc. She doesn't seem bothered that she has been raped, although she admits to "limb rending pains". There seems to be a sense of liberty. She has been watching him, feeding him, hearing his moans for some time. She knew he was dangerous, and yet she didn't do enough to safeguard herself. Even he mocks her cloud coverings.
The fact that she is a virgin, and he is a hairy youth brings up another image to explore. She perhaps lacks experience in deeper matters, and merely does as she is told and what she is directed to do. He, being a youth, and hairy, could mean that he has been neglected with his physical needs, but has the fire and energy that youths possess when wanting to bring about change. She seems to reflect the innocence of the expected "virgin" of the times, whereas Orc seems to symbolize more of the spirit of rebellion--as with the revolutions associated with the time period.
In her utterance is revealed the land of America. Orc's actions are linked with the struggles that exist. Change. Revolution. Pain. "Endur'd by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep" is could mean that America has or is in the process of freeing itself from England's tyranny. I know the poem is written in 1793, and that America declared it's freedom much earlier that this date--but, change, true change, is a process. No country can be free without some systems still in place, or some levels of thinking from the "old systems", laws, etc. that need to be altered.
When she utters that Orc is "the image of God who dwells in darkness of Africa", I take it that at that moment Orc is almost like Adam back in the Garden of Eden, which some believe was located in Africa. At that moment of her new found liberation, somehow she is meeting Orc/Adam as God intended man to be--free and in charge; not dominated by systems.
dallas