Poetry · Chapter
Ignoramus explained
A poetic meditation on the mundane and the cosmic, blending imagery of tramps, trams, and the 'Clown of Fortune' with reflections on the mating of masculine and feminine principles, the martyrdom of morning, and the incommensuration of yout
What happens
A poetic meditation on the mundane and the cosmic, blending imagery of tramps, trams, and the 'Clown of Fortune' with reflections on the mating of masculine and feminine principles, the martyrdom of morning, and the incommensuration of youth. The speaker addresses the sun, breakfasts on rain, and walks toward Empyrean under an oil-silk umbrella, asking a companion to count stars.
Themes in this chapter
Alienation and Belonging
The poem evokes a sense of dislocation and solitary wandering, with the tramp leaning against the 'night-nursery of trams' and the speaker 'boiling your soul down' in a world of compromise and repetition.
The Body and Mortality
Imagery of 'dust-to-dust', 'heart-beating', and 'martyrdom of morning' ties bodily existence to decay and the passage of time, while the 'accoupling of the masculine and feminine universal principles' suggests generative life.
Key passages
“You can hear the heart-beating Accoupling of the masculine and feminine Universal principles Mating”
One can perceive the rhythmic union of male and female cosmic forces in the act of creation.
Highlights the poem's theme of universal duality and generative energy.
“Or smear a friend With a greasy residuum From boiling your soul down”
Or tarnish a companion with the leftover filth from refining your own essence.
Suggests the cost of self-purification and its potential to harm relationships.
“I must have you Count stars for me Out of their numeral excess Please keep the brightest For the last”
I need you to tally the countless stars, saving the most brilliant one for the end.
Evokes a desire for order and climax in the face of overwhelming cosmic abundance.