hypatia_
01-09-2014, 06:43 AM
I am loving Season in Hell; here are some of my favorite passages:
"I am not a prisoner of my reason. I said: God. I want freedom in salvation: how am I to seek it?"
I interpret this as: "The only way to escape reason's prison is to ask God for help. Reason is to the detriment of man. I do not know as much as God."
In fact, the theme of being at the mercy of God intellectually is extremely prevalent in this poem, and I am just fascinated by it.
"Wealth has always been public property. the keys of knowledge are the gifts of divine love alone."
I interpret this as: "Wealth is available to everyone. Knowledge > wealth. Knowledge is given to us by God; we cannot attain them without his help."
This and other passages always seem a tad arrogant to me. He often times puts himself above that of other people intellectually (though always submits himself to God). It is very interesting.
"I have never done evil. Light will my days be and I shall be spared repentance."
Interesting outlook. Reminds me of a Tupac quote: "“I believe that everything that you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that's bad, I'm going to suffer from it. But in my mind, I believe what I'm doing is right. So I feel like I'm going to heaven”
"Ah! I am so utterly forsaken that to any divine image whatsoever, I offer my impulses toward perfection."
Here I think he is saying that he has pondered divinity/God/reality/etc for a very long time, and feels "forsaken" because he still has no idea as to the nature of it. So, he admits he will ponder at even the slightest hint of beauty and magic in the world, no matter how absurd, emphasized by "whatsoever." This is where the translation becomes important, because if whatsoever is incorrect, then the subtlety, of the divine images he will accept as a true indication of God, is gone.
"De profundis, Domine, what a fool I am!"
"Hallucinations are without number."
Both very Socratic. :D
"I think I am in hell, therefore I am in hell."
Interesting Descartes reference.
What are some of your favorite Rimbaud passages?
"I am not a prisoner of my reason. I said: God. I want freedom in salvation: how am I to seek it?"
I interpret this as: "The only way to escape reason's prison is to ask God for help. Reason is to the detriment of man. I do not know as much as God."
In fact, the theme of being at the mercy of God intellectually is extremely prevalent in this poem, and I am just fascinated by it.
"Wealth has always been public property. the keys of knowledge are the gifts of divine love alone."
I interpret this as: "Wealth is available to everyone. Knowledge > wealth. Knowledge is given to us by God; we cannot attain them without his help."
This and other passages always seem a tad arrogant to me. He often times puts himself above that of other people intellectually (though always submits himself to God). It is very interesting.
"I have never done evil. Light will my days be and I shall be spared repentance."
Interesting outlook. Reminds me of a Tupac quote: "“I believe that everything that you do bad comes back to you. So everything that I do that's bad, I'm going to suffer from it. But in my mind, I believe what I'm doing is right. So I feel like I'm going to heaven”
"Ah! I am so utterly forsaken that to any divine image whatsoever, I offer my impulses toward perfection."
Here I think he is saying that he has pondered divinity/God/reality/etc for a very long time, and feels "forsaken" because he still has no idea as to the nature of it. So, he admits he will ponder at even the slightest hint of beauty and magic in the world, no matter how absurd, emphasized by "whatsoever." This is where the translation becomes important, because if whatsoever is incorrect, then the subtlety, of the divine images he will accept as a true indication of God, is gone.
"De profundis, Domine, what a fool I am!"
"Hallucinations are without number."
Both very Socratic. :D
"I think I am in hell, therefore I am in hell."
Interesting Descartes reference.
What are some of your favorite Rimbaud passages?