Suspiria de Profundis · Chapter
Who Is This Woman That Beckoneth and Warneth Me from the Place Where She Is, and in Whose Eyes Is Woeful Remembrance? I Guess Who She Is explained
The narrator describes a recurring dream vision of a woman who appears at a cottage, first beckoning him onward then warning him away.
What happens
The narrator describes a recurring dream vision of a woman who appears at a cottage, first beckoning him onward then warning him away. He interprets this as a prefiguration of future events and a connection to a past life or preexistence. The vision is linked to memories of his sister's death and a sense of mysterious preexistence, as also recorded in Wordsworth's reminiscences. The woman's face haunts him for years, suggesting a deep, sorrowful connection that transcends a single lifetime.
Themes in this chapter
Memory and the Past
The narrator grapples with memories of a past life or preexistence, and the woman's face is described as looking at 'some unknown past,' making it 'awful.'
Dreams and the Subconscious
The entire chapter is structured around a recurring dream vision that reveals hidden connections and prefigurements of the narrator's future.
Suffering and Grief
The woman's expression is full of 'trepidation of some dread woe' and 'horror,' and the narrator feels a deep sorrow linked to his sister's death and a love torn asunder.
Time and Mortality
The narrator reflects on the merging of past, present, and future in 'one awful moment of lightning revelation,' and the vision spans thousands of years.
Characters to notice
- The Narrator
Describes his dream visions and the haunting figure of the woman at the cottage, reflecting on preexistence and future sorrows.
- Jane
Referenced indirectly through the memory of a sister's coffin and the 'heavenly beauty which slept side by side within my sister’s coffin in the month of June.'
- Mr. Wordsworth
Quoted regarding the sense of mysterious preexistence and prophetic visions of future life in Westmoreland.
- Thomas De Quincey
The authorial voice behind the narrator, reflecting on personal memories and dreams.
Key passages
“In my dreams were often prefigurements of my future, as I could not but read the signs.”
My dreams frequently foreshadowed what was to come, and I could not help but interpret these signs.
Introduces the chapter's central theme of prophetic dreams.
“Oh, spirit that dwelleth in man, how subtle are thy revelations; how deep, how delirious the raptures thou canst inspire; how poignant the stings with which thou canst pierce the heart; how sweet the honey with which thou assuagest the wound; how dark the despairs and accusings that lie behind thy curtains, and leap upon us like lightning from the cloud, with the sense as of some heavenly blazoning, and oftentimes carry us beyond ourselves!”
Oh human spirit, your revelations are so subtle; you can inspire deep, delirious joys, pierce the heart with sharp stings, soothe wounds with sweetness, and hide dark despairs that suddenly strike us like lightning, often transporting us beyond our normal selves.
A lyrical meditation on the power of the human spirit to reveal hidden truths.
“What a glimpse was thus revealed! glory in despair, as of that gorgeous vegetation that hid the sterilities of the grave in the tropics of that summer long ago; of that heavenly beauty which slept side by side within my sister’s coffin in the month of June; of those saintly swells that rose from an infinite distance—I know not whether to or from my sister.”
What a vision was unveiled! A glorious despair, like the lush tropical vegetation that conceals the barrenness of the grave, recalling the heavenly beauty of my sister lying in her coffin in June, and the distant, saintly sounds that seemed to come from or go toward her.
Connects the dream vision to the memory of the narrator's sister's death.
“The face of this monitory Hebe haunted me for some years in a way that I must faintly attempt to explain. It is little to say that it was the sweetest face, with the most peculiar expression of sweetness, that I had ever seen: that was much, but that was earthly. There was something more terrific, believe me, than this; yet that was not the word: terror looks to the future; and this perhaps did, but not primarily. Chiefly it looked at some unknown past, and was for that reason awful; yes, awful—that was the word.”
The face of this warning woman haunted me for years. It was the sweetest face I had ever seen, but there was something more terrifying about it—not terror of the future, but awe of an unknown past, which made it truly awful.
Explains the unique quality of the woman's haunting expression.
