"On a dark night, Kindled in love with yearnings--oh, happy chance!-- I went forth without being observed, My house being now at rest."
As far as I can tell, no one seems to actually know what the dark night of the soul is (much like the jounalist tradition of ending with "That's 30" or "--30--"). This via negativa, which offers truth through the deprivation of sense, is a mystical and ellusive idea. Likely, there is a parallel between the dark night of the soul and the crucifixion of Christ--it is through the death of one's self that one moves toward true life.
In this first bit of the poem, we see, notably, a delight in being alone and at rest (as opposed to the typical human search for community and society). Especially when one is in love, he seeks at least friends, if not a lover. In this stanza, however, the narrator rejoices in night and isolation and peace.
1 comment:
I turned up somewhere that Eliot was an admirer of St. John of the Cross.
This really helped out in Ash Wednesday II, which lifts lines almost verbatim from the Flos Carmeli.
Post a Comment