Poetry · Chapter
XXII explained
The speaker describes his soul as an ancient, inscrutable pageant, older than Egyptian art, found in a tomb whose rites are unknowable.
What happens
The speaker describes his soul as an ancient, inscrutable pageant, older than Egyptian art, found in a tomb whose rites are unknowable. He reflects on the immense, almost divine knowledge of ancient priesthoods, which was so great it became a sin and too vast for human soul to contain. Yet when he tries to directly examine this inner pageant, the vision vanishes, leaving only a memory of emptiness.
Themes in this chapter
Epistemological Uncertainty
The speaker cannot know the meaning of his own soul's pageant; direct examination causes the vision to vanish, leaving only a memory of emptiness.
Time and Mortality
The soul is described as older than Egypt, tied to ancient priesthoods, and all else in the tomb has turned to colored dust, emphasizing decay and the passage of ages.
Characters to notice
Key passages
“My soul is a stiff pageant, man by man, Of some Egyptian art than Egypt older, Found in some tomb whose rite no guess can scan, Where all things else to coloured dust did moulder.”
My soul is like a rigid procession of figures, one after another, resembling an ancient Egyptian artwork that predates Egypt itself, discovered in a tomb whose ritual purpose is unknowable, where everything else has decayed into colored dust.
The speaker compares his soul to an ancient, indecipherable relic.
“But when I ask what means that pageant I And would look at it suddenly, I lose The sense I had of seeing it, nor can try Again to look, nor hath my memory a use That seems recalling, save that it recalls An emptiness of having seen those walls.”
But when I try to understand what that procession means and attempt to examine it directly, I lose the impression I had of seeing it, and I cannot look again; my memory only serves to remind me of the emptiness of having glimpsed those walls.
Direct introspection destroys the vision, leaving only a void.