Poetry · Chapter
Humanitad explained
The speaker reflects on personal suffering, disillusionment with love, and a yearning for wisdom and unity of body and spirit.
What happens
The speaker reflects on personal suffering, disillusionment with love, and a yearning for wisdom and unity of body and spirit. He invokes classical and Christian imagery, mourns the loss of great souls like the last son of Italy, and ultimately asserts that the purely human is divine.
Themes in this chapter
Suffering and Redemption
The speaker laments personal and collective suffering, yet anticipates redemption through the divine human.
Spirituality and Doubt
The poem grapples with faith, the crucifixion imagery, and the search for a higher wisdom.
Classical Mythology and Antiquity
Extensive references to Greek mythology, gods (Athena, Venus, Artemis), and historical battles.
Transience and Mortality
Reflections on death, the fleeting nature of beauty and youth, and the decay of ideals.
Characters to notice
- The Teacher of Wisdom
Implored to teach wisdom; the speaker seeks a grand unselfish simple life.
- Love
Described as a noble madness; the speaker renounces love's perilous bliss.
- Artemis
Referenced as 'huntress deadlier than Artemis' in renouncing love.
- Queen Venus
Mentioned as 'Venus' who may go and chuck her dainty page; the speaker rejects her spell.
- Adonis
Young Adonis is mentioned as going to his tryst with Venus.
- Athena
Invoked as 'supreme Athena argent-limbed' to inspire the speaker's life.
- Aeschylos
Cited as one who gave sword and lyre and died at Marathon.
- Milton
Referenced in connection with Aeschylos and England's enduring son.
- Mnemosyne
Said to be childless; wisdom is in eclipse.
- Christ
Alluded to in the imagery of the smitten mouth, crown of thorns, and crucifixion.
- Gaston de Foix
Implied as the 'last dear son of Italy' who died for the sake of God.
- Roma
Referenced in the context of the great triumvir passing to the holy heart of Rome.
- Helen
Mentioned as 'a new Helen' in the Trojan allusion.
Key passages
“To burn with one clear flame, to stand erect In natural honour, not to bend the knee In profitless prostrations whose effect Is by itself condemned, what alchemy Can teach me this?”
The speaker asks what secret art can teach him to live with integrity and self-respect, without futile submission.
Expresses a desire for authentic, honorable living.
“And Love! that noble madness, whose august And inextinguishable might can slay The soul with honeyed drugs—alas! I must From such sweet ruin play the runaway”
Love is a noble but destructive madness; the speaker must flee from its sweet poison.
Renunciation of love as a dangerous force.
“Then rise supreme Athena argent-limbed! And, if my lips be music-less, inspire At least my life”
The speaker calls upon Athena to inspire his life if not his poetry.
Invocation for wisdom and purpose.
“O for one grand unselfish simple life To teach us what is Wisdom!”
The speaker longs for a pure, selfless example to reveal true wisdom.
Yearning for a moral exemplar.
“Loosen the nails—we shall come down I know, Staunch the red wounds—we shall be whole again, No need have we of hyssop-laden rod, That which is purely human, that is Godlike, that is God.”
Humanity can rise from its crucifixion and be healed; the purely human is itself divine.
Affirmation of human divinity and redemption.
