Poetry · Chapter
The Birth of Virtue explained
In a primordial age of perfect transparency, thoughts and passions were openly visible.
What happens
In a primordial age of perfect transparency, thoughts and passions were openly visible. As time passed, this clarity faded, leading to concealment and deception. From this distrust, the goddess Virtue was born.
Themes in this chapter
Deception and Self-Deception
The poem describes the loss of transparency and the rise of lies, directly engaging with the theme of deception.
Nature and Artifice
The shift from natural openness to artificial concealment, culminating in the personified Virtue arising from distrust, explores the tension between nature and artifice.
Key passages
“When, long ago, the young world circling flew Through wider reaches of a richer blue, New-eyed, the men and maids saw, manifest, The thoughts untold in one another’s breast— Each wish displayed, and every passion learned; A look revealed them as a look discerned.”
In the early days of the world, people could see each other's thoughts and feelings directly, without any need for words.
Describes the original state of perfect transparency.
“But sating Time with clouds o’ercast their eyes; Desire was hidden, and the lips framed lies.”
As time passed, people's vision became clouded, desires were concealed, and speech became deceitful.
Explains the loss of transparency and the onset of deception.
“A goddess then, emerging from the dust, Fair Virtue rose, the daughter of Distrust.”
From this atmosphere of suspicion, the goddess Virtue was born, arising from the dust of distrust.
Introduces the origin of Virtue as a response to the loss of trust.