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The Book of Jade · Chapter

De Profundis explained

The speaker cries out from a grave-like pit of despair, overwhelmed by decay and dead things, pleading with God for deliverance.

What happens

The speaker cries out from a grave-like pit of despair, overwhelmed by decay and dead things, pleading with God for deliverance. He acknowledges his own weakness and past failures, feeling utterly forsaken and consumed by darkness and worms.

Themes in this chapter

  • Death and Decay

    The poem is saturated with imagery of graves, worms, toads, slime, and the speaker becoming a 'dead thing,' emphasizing physical and spiritual decay.

  • Nihilism and Spiritual Emptiness

    The speaker describes a complete loss of joy, light, and strength, feeling utterly abandoned and hopeless, with no prospect of rising from the pit.

Characters to notice

  • Unknown

    The speaker who calls from the grave, lamenting his fallen state and pleading with God.

  • Death

    Implied as the presence of dead things, worms, and the grave that envelops the speaker.

Key passages

  • “Out of the grave, O God, I call to thee, Be thou not deaf unto my dolorous cry;”

    From the depths of my despair, I cry out to God, begging Him to hear my sorrowful plea.

    Opening invocation establishing the speaker's desperate situation.

  • “I am become a dead thing in the night, And in my heart the worms have their abode.”

    I have turned into a lifeless corpse in the darkness, with worms dwelling inside my heart.

    Vivid metaphor for complete spiritual and emotional death.

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