Crucitaph by
FuzziesReviewed by ~hope~ and Concernedbrotha. N.b. This is an interpretation.
Fuzzies is a poet who frequently experiments with his work, in theme, structure, prosody and language. The title is infact a culmination of two words, 'crucifix' and 'epitaph,' these two words have an overtly religious bearing, which brings us on to the essence of this piece: personally burying Christ and Christianity. This rather controversial theme reflects a social trend recognized as secularization, the decline in influence of the church.
quote:
No dream will haunt my eyes
So much as my last:
The bolts in my limbs have descended to become rust.
I feel parched of spirit,
Foresaken of previous piety.
The first two lines draw the audience into the poem expertly, we are sympathetic towards the narrator's pain and are encouraged to read on to discover what ails the figure. The remaining three lines in this passage allude to the character's indentity, which is developed throughout the poem and is of course Jesus Christ, the son of God. Notice how the author chooses to use the word 'descended' instead of perhaps disintegrated or deteriorated, to suggest a decline in status, as if the bolts are inconsequential. The alliteration in the final iambs of lines four and five emphasize the loss of faith which the narrator describes.
quote:
There are thorns in my forehead,
Traitors at my back -
Poor onlookers, yet
From gifting pity they fast,
Their eyes petrified by their bloody lust!
Line six builds up the image of Christ, the thorns from his mocking crown (Mark 15:17), 'traitors' refer to Judas and the crowd who released Barabbas instead of Jesus at the Feast.
"What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called Christ?" Pilate asked.
They all answered, "crucify him!"
"Why? What crime has he committed?" asked Pilate.
But they shouted all the louder, "Crucify him!"
When Pilate saw he was getting nowhere, but that instead an uproar was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd. "I am innocent of this man's blood," he said. "It is your responsibility!"
All the peopled answered, "let his bood be on us and our children." -Matthew 27:22-26
quote:
Ha! Here it is!
Martyrship for all I embody?
Here rusted nails collapse and
I am not stoic to pain's attack.
Line twelve may be interpretted in a number of ways, partly due to the rhetoric, which suggests a thought, or a more ironic take at the concept of Christian ideals. It's also interesting to note a martyr may be "one put to death for his beliefs" and "one in constant suffering" speculation upon what this entails which again maybe a criticism of Biblic ethics.
quote:
Inert and pale I fall like a tear,
Transparently; life, thou shalt live on.
The image and connotations of a teardrop link in with the previous lines sense of sorrow, the falling from the cross is possibly symbolic of Christianity, even Jesus as a figurehead has been transfigured as it were, to become a modern concept. He is what we want him to be. Line sixteen has provoked some ambiguity, perhaps the narrator is referring to himself in a moment of introspection, i.e. my soul/memory/life shall endure? that things must continue invariably, that it's more important to simply live, then to have faith?
quote:
But there is rot in my frame,
Rust in my bonds,
Decrepit is my sharp crown
- Other than its jabs at my cause.
Notice the slight change of form, to move on slightly the remainder of the poem is subtly changed "to disarray" and the syntax above in line nineteen and the hyphen in the following line are examples of this decay, which again aptly reflects the chracter. The words 'rot,' 'rust,' and 'decrepit' bring us back to the idea of a religion wearing away and being slowly changed over time, the thorns in his crown jab at his "cause" or ideal.
quote:
Grey as sin; die, my skin.
In journey from order - to disarray
'Fore waking of that dream, I saw me
But a shell upon the Earth.
"Flesh is weak," but is the soul everlasting? The recalling of the dream, surges the reader back to a new reality of consciousness, the final line is effectively the only one that reveals the author's true opinion as he steps from the past of his narrator to objectively pass judgement upon himself. The shell is a husk, an object with no life, thus simply a puppeted figure.
Grant and Lali.
[This message was edited by ~hope~ on 03-22-04 at 12:18 PM.]
