So I've done a small random essay of sorts for the beginning, then went over and broke down the poem at the end-
Isolation is a poison. An induced toxin born to rip you of your mentality. The slow lingering death upon one’s fate brings unto us all, eventually, one final silence.
Are we aware of our seclusion? One’s solitude and peace? And if we are, why then, do we let this life style hold grip and rein to both our mental and physical mechanics? The sluggish infestation rots over a beautiful world, and we allow it, we embrace the change, because it’s simple and easy.
Those who can identify with Poe’s despairing sentiments understands with such a range of emotion, that if left alone one can experience both kinds of silence.
The theory of dualism plays out in front of you. This seclusion appears to separate both body and soul, leaving you feeling like a parasite leeching onto a body, your host. The time spent alone is what prominently leads into this. It’s a snap, a wake up call of sorts, that sharpens your mind and eye to reality.
Realization settles in, a permanent cavity. Ignorance to truth unfolds a simpler path, yet awareness tends to invite insanity whether welcome or not.
An optimistic warmth encircles you when in company. Imagine being the only being on Earth. Visualize what feelings would be running through your head, what attitude you’d take up, and what was worth living. Now, insert fifty or more people on Earth and envision the emotions and relief, the thoughts of companionship. The difference between the two, other than the obvious, is when alone all you can think of is the end.
“There are some qualities-some incorporate things,
That have a double life, which thus is made
A type of twin entity which springs
From matter and light, evinced in solid and shade.”
Here Poe describes a clear separation between the two silences. He puts “which springs from matter and light” to explain your mental isolation, then says “evinced in solid and shade” to portray the physical death. It’s a path which leads into the other.
“There is a two-fold Silence-sea and shore-
Body and soul. One dwells in lonely places,
Newly with grass o‘ergrown; some solemn graces,
Some human memories, and tearful lore,”
We delve into the more mental of silences, here he describes your mind. “Newly with grass o’ergrown” paints a descriptive representation of a land which has slowly begun to rot. “Some solemn graces, some human memories, and tearful lore” accentuates a ringing echo over this abandoned land.
“Render him terrorless: his name’s “No More.”
He is the corporate silence: dread him not!
No power hath he of evil in himself;”
This would be the depiction of yourself. You are nothing to fear, yet you represent your own isolation. “No power hath he of evil in himself” says you can not control what has started infesting your mind, it is too late, you have no more power over it.
“But should some urgent fate (untimely lot!)
Bring thee to meet his shadow (nameless elf,
That haunteth the lone regions where hath trod
No foot of man), commend thyself to God!”
Your shadow would be death himself. “Nameless elf, that haunteth the lone regions where hath trod no foot of man” symbolizes a form of afterlife, lonely, cold, and dead. Poe, being the religious man he was, advises anyone who is aware of their isolation to place their fate in devotion to God.
Does This Sound Okay?
It's really good! 5/5
