Poetry · Chapter
XXVIII: Ballade Mystique explained
The speaker reflects on their isolation in a lonely, windswept house, while friends pity them for being alone.
What happens
The speaker reflects on their isolation in a lonely, windswept house, while friends pity them for being alone. Yet the speaker reveals a secret inner world of mythic vision and immortal beauty, unknown to those who cannot see beyond the ordinary.
Themes in this chapter
Illusion vs. Reality
The contrast between the bleak, lonely house perceived by friends and the rich, magical inner world known only to the speaker.
The Search for Meaning
The speaker finds meaning and beauty in a private mythic realm, beyond the understanding of others.
Characters to notice
- Dymer
The speaker of the poem, isolated in a red house, yet possessing a visionary inner realm.
Key passages
“The big, red house is bare and lone / The stony garden waste and sere / With blight of breezes ocean blown / To pinch the wakening of the year”
The large red house stands empty and desolate, the garden barren and withered, chilled by harsh ocean winds that stifle the spring.
Sets the scene of physical desolation and isolation.
“They tell me I am lonely here— / What do they know? What do they know?”
My friends say I must be lonely, but they have no idea of my true experience.
Refrain emphasizing the gap between outward appearance and inner reality.
“That I have seen the Dagda’s throne / In sunny lands without a tear / And found a forest all my own / To ward with magic shield and spear”
I have glimpsed the throne of the Irish god Dagda in a joyful, sunlit land, and discovered a personal enchanted forest that I defend with magical weapons.
Reveals the speaker's visionary, mythic inner world.
“Where, through the stately towers I rear / For my desire, around me go / Immortal shapes of beauty clear”
Within the towers I build for my longing, eternal forms of beauty move about me.
Describes the speaker's inner realm populated by timeless, beautiful beings.