The poem
The shadowy Daughter of Urthona stood before red Orc, When fourteen suns had faintly journey'd o'er his dark abode: His food she brought in iron baskets, his drink in cups of iron: Crown'd with a helmet and dark hair the nameless female stood; A quiver with its burning stores, a bow like that of night, When pestilence is shot from heaven: no other arms she need! Invulnerable though naked, save where clouds roll round her loins Their awful folds in the dark air: silent she stood as night; For never from her iron tongue could voice or sound arise, But dumb till that dread day when Orc assay'd his fierce embrace. 'Dark Virgin,' said the hairy youth, 'thy father stern, abhorr'd, Rivets my tenfold chains while still on high my spirit soars; Sometimes an Eagle screaming in the sky, sometimes a Lion Stalking upon the mountains, and sometimes a Whale, I lash The raging fathomless abyss; anon a Serpent folding Around the pillars of Urthona, and round thy dark limbs On the Canadian wilds I fold; feeble my spirit folds, For chain'd beneath I rend these caverns: when thou bringest food I howl my joy, and my red eyes seek to behold thy face-- In vain! these clouds roll to and fro, and hide thee from my sight.'
Silent as despairing love, and strong as jealousy, The hairy shoulders rend the links; free are the wrists of fire; Round the terrific loins he seiz'd the panting, struggling womb; It joy'd: she put aside her clouds and smiled her first-born smile, As when a black cloud shews its lightnings to the silent deep.
Soon as she saw the terrible boy, then burst the virgin cry:
'I know thee, I have found thee, and I will not let thee go: Thou art the image of God who dwells in darkness of Africa, And thou art fall'n to give me life in regions of dark death. On my American plains I feel the struggling afflictions Endur'd by roots that writhe their arms into the nether deep. I see a Serpent in Canada who courts me to his love, In Mexico an Eagle, and a Lion in Peru; I see a Whale in the south-sea, drinking my soul away. O what limb-rending pains I feel! thy fire and my frost Mingle in howling pains, in furrows by thy lightnings rent. This is eternal death, and this the torment long foretold.'
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…
Read the whole commentThis 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.