In light of Monday’s discussion, I find the beginning of “Darkness” by Byron very interesting. The line “I had a dream, which was not all a dream” to me invokes an almost trancelike state, much like that of Wordworth’s in “A Slumber did my spirit seal”. This is a state that is not completely peace nor slumber, nor is it awareness. Rather, it is an in-between in both poems, and this in-between state allows the narrators to experience gripping tragedy. In some ways, the trance-like beginning of these poems provide distance and allow for the reader to experience what the poet perceives as a dreadful reality from a more comfortable perspective. Whether it be the reality of the death of a beloved or the reality of the inevitably of humanity’s destruction of the world, such tragedies must be experienced from what seems like a trance-like state in these poems—too much slumber and the reader will pass the situation off as unlikely, too much awareness and the situation is overpowering.
I agree with your analysis of the "trance-like" state presented by the two poems. Tragic situations are very difficult to take in with full awareness on the onset. Most people must look at the situation as if it were a dream to fully accept a dreadful event. For example, people typically experience a state of denial of the truth if a loved one has died. This denial is like an escape to a "fantasy" or "dream-like world" in which the loved one has not died. It is a coping mechanism, and I think the poets (though probably not being aware of the seven stages of grief) successfully presented this idea in their writings.
ReplyDeleteI find interesting your comment that "this in-between state allows the narrator to experience gripping tragedy." Its as if the poet is only experiencing tragedy in a dream rather than actuality. From the internal, the narrator's emotions are of suffering and his "thought dreams" are of disaster. The reader doesn't quite know if the apocalypse is a factual event or all in the narrator's head.
ReplyDeleteByron seems to be asking people not to be so self-centered in thinking and shows that from within this dream of sorts, an apocalypse of tragedy occurs like having mental anguish or a paranoid fantasy.