# Mad Sonnet explained — The Book of Jade

> Chapter companion for The Book of Jade by David Park Barnitz.

## What happens

The speaker cries out to God in the night, expressing profound weariness of shapeless flying things, dead corpses, and a staring lidless Eye. The world has become a dead blur, and the speaker, stricken with blight, cowers in black corners, pleading for Death to descend into their loathed sty.

## Themes in this chapter

### Ennui and Existential Dread

The speaker's repeated cries of weariness and horror at the world reflect deep existential dread.

### Death and Decay

Imagery of dead things, corpses, and the plea for Death to come dominate the poem.

## Character check-ins

### Unknown

The speaker who cries out to God in despair and weariness.

### Death

Implored by the speaker to descend and end their suffering.

## Key lines

> Lo, in the night I cry out, in the night, God! and my voice shall howl into the sky!

Behold, I shout into the darkness, calling upon God, and my voice will wail upward.

_The speaker begins with a desperate invocation to God._

> I am weary of seeing shapeless things that fly, And flap into my face in their vile flight;

I am tired of witnessing formless flying creatures that strike my face as they pass.

_Expresses exhaustion from grotesque, intangible visions._

> I am weary of that lidless Eye That comes and stares at me, O God of light!

I am exhausted by that unblinking Eye that approaches and gazes upon me, O luminous God.

_The speaker is haunted by an unceasing, watchful presence._

> If thou art not a dead corpse in thy sky, Send thou down Death into my loathed sty!

If you are not a lifeless body in heaven, then dispatch Death to my detested hovel.

_The speaker challenges God's vitality and begs for death as release._

## Links

- HTML: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters/part-ii-mad-sonnet
- Book: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_jade_se
- All chapters: https://www.betterreads.online/discover/the_book_of_jade_se/chapters