How about a straightforward blog?
About 200 words--
Track with examples and discuss the significance and function of one of the following in Shelley's Alastor and "Mont Blanc" (the two odes also may offer some possibilities):
Silence
Solitude
Vacancy
Monday, April 12, 2010
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Solitude occurs in Alastor and Mont Blanc when characters seek to find some sort of truth by examining nature or “undiscovered lands.” It’s as though the sublime can only be fully experienced and understood when in solitude, and it is determined by human perception. In Mont Blanc, the mountain stands tall alone, inaccessible. It has “still and solemn power” and “The secret Strength of things / Which governs thought, and to the infinite dome / Of Heaven is as a law, Inhabits thee! “ So it is extremely powerful and strong but it is still silent and sits in solitude, way high up there, away from the rest of the world. But its solitude and silence does not mean it is empty or meaningless like the human mind may seem to think, because it is the exact opposite. The poem serves to show that great things can be discovered in silence and solitude. The same occurs in Alastor. In Alastor, the Poet explores the obscure parts of nature and ends up on a mission to transcend the natural world into the supernatural world. “Startled by his own thoughts, he looked around. / There was no fair fiend near him, not a sight / Or sound of awe but in his own deep mind.” So the Poet’s human mind and perception, in his solitude, determined how he saw the natural world. The Poet was seeking truth in nature on his lone journey and ended up finding truth in the supernatural. It seems to be a recurring theme that those who travel alone seeking knowledge often find it in places they do not expect (i.e., Mont Blanc and in death, in the case of Alastor).
Vacancy in Alastor and Mont Blanc
It seems that in the piece “Alastor”, the vacancy (at least from where I am reading—it could just be the nausea talking) is created when the traveler is taken over by the vision in his sleep. He immediately is drawn to his female “double”. The curious thing is here that when he awakens he is “Roused by the shock” (192) and comes to full awareness of the vacancy of the woods around him. “His wan eyes/Gaze on the empty scene as vacantly/ As ocean’s moon looks on the moon in heaven” (200-02). It seems to me that he is more aware of this vacancy due to his previous feelings of oneness and wholeness while in thrall of his “double”. It is almost as if now that he has experienced that intense emotion that he realizes that he is ultimately missing something and not himself whole. The vacancy seems to be reflected outwardly onto the landscape via his eyes, which are vacant. (Or maybe he was just not as in tune with nature until his vision). I feel that it is more an outward reflection—He is aware now of his lacking in an equal (possibly narcissistically perfect) mate, aware now of the vastness of the world and the endlessness of thought and conquest.
The Vacancy of Mont Blanc, demonstrated through vivid imagery of the mountain’s vast, almost surface ugliness and undesirability. (I personally envisioned it as a Mount Doom/ Mordor like area—without all of the hairy little Hobbits and not nearly as much fire… and all of the eyes are lidded). More or less like an area that has seen volcanic activity, the area is “Ghastly and scarred, and riven” (69). The attributes of the mountain all come together to create this feeling of Ruin, “A city of death, distinct with many a tower/ And wall impregnable of beaming ice. / Yet not a city, but a flood of ruin” (103-05). The Vacancy here seems (at least in my opinion) to come from the looming doom of the mountain composed of humankind’s Ruin and the unnatural emptiness of such spaces. The way such spaces affect the reader may differ, normally a place of Ruin denotes conquest, enduring, or even failure, defeat; Ruin ultimately reflects the inevitability of the known human world. Ruin is cold and empty, seeping in around the edges. The feeling of Vacancy for the piece “Mont Blanc” comes more from the external and permeates into the soul.
Mont Blanc is the deepest part of the poet's mind. The first section deals with the emotions of the poet. Emotions that are both "dark" and "glittering." Line five, "the source of human thought" can be seen as the emotions because of their influence over the mind. The second section deals with the mind specifically. The mind cannot be tames and is the only place where one can truly be alone. I like that Shelley describes the thoughts as having "wandering wings." This gives the thoughts a ethereal connotation, like the thoughts are angelic or other worldly. They are able to float through different worlds and planes. Section three deals with violence and the soul. The soul and death are one in the same. When doubt and violence enter the soul (through the mind) death is only inevitable. By using natural elements to describe the mind and its aspects, Shelley creates a very lush image where everything is growing and flowing. However, as the mind begins to decay "insects, beats and birds..." destroy the land. In the final section, Shelley admits that the mind cannot be completely destroyed until death. The mind is always moving.
My impression of how "Solitude" in Alastor seems to have been opposite to other interpretations...perhaps because I tied together too literally "alastor" in terms of "evil genius" and "The Spirit of Solitude." Seeing through the screen of this interpretation, Alastor seemed an almost moralizing tale, showing either the self-destructive nature of the Poet's solitude, or how the imperfection of the world combines with the corrupt but purer soul of the Poet to produce that destructive effect. With the latter (which I'm more inclined towards perhaps because of familiarity) I'm reminded mainly of Kafka's "The Hunger Artist," particularly in terms of the Artist/Poet, but the same theme runs through The Watchmen and plenty of other anti-hero stories. With the former, the poem would have to be taken as a kind of parody that employs the very excesses (of elaborate description, reckless abandon in the hero...) that it appears to condemn, essentially martyring for effect?
The poem seems at first to present him in a good light - "A lovely youth...Gentle, and brave, and generous..." but, "He lived, he died, he sung, in solitude" (p.5 of this version, since I don't have the book with me today...). I find it hard to tell if this kind of language is meant to be taken seriously or not...but in the context of Shelley's writing I can't find any concrete reason to doubt it (as opposed to Don Juan and so on). The Poet might be seen as something of a pathetic figure, though, in ignoring the "Arab maiden" and all that for his dream-woman to the extent of starvation and so on...but, if his dream-woman is symbolic of Inspiration or something, I suppose it would make sense. The need for that search to be fatal might just serve to heighten dramatic tension.
In any case, it is the singular nature of the Poet's vision that causes him to abandon civilization - "real" society - in order to search for a dream of perfection. It seems you can take that as a problem either of the poet or the world, or both.
"The Sound of Silence"
In looking at both Alastor and Mont Blanc, the concept of silence could be because the speaker is partaking in the role of the observer as they ponder the relationship between human existence and the wonders of nature itself. In Alastor, these thoughts are told in a language filled with beautiful earthy images and seem almost dream-like. To me, the poet seems to be caught between their own idealisms of society and acute awareness that the nature of man and the world itself makes solitude virtually impossible (at least in this case). In Mont Blanc, the mountain that is spoke of represents vast knowledge with the chaos of the everyday world making rising out of present situations impossible which hinders our perceptions, hence line 49: "some say that gleams of a remoter world visit the soul in sleep,--that death is slumber, and that its shapes the busy thoughts outnumber of those who wake and live." Perhaps the poet is saying that it is only in silence that the nature of our thoughts can truly be contemplated.
Interesting point--so a positive value to solitude even though in other contexts Shelley is very much focused on social and political issues of liberty and the common good. Maybe a tension here worth exploring further?
Because this didn't post the first time, here it is again.
Solitude in Alastor and “Mont Blanc”
The quest within Alastor is for a companion, someone to break the solitude of the poet’s life. Throughout the entire poem the only interaction with another being is during dreams or prayers. The poet dreams of the woman “He dreamed a veiled maid / Sate near him” (151-2). This woman does not have any lines within the poem, she only sobs to him and sings in a haunting voice. The disappearance of this phantom woman brings back the solitude that Alastor faces. He dreams up the woman to help break his solitude, but it only increases it more. The journey he goes on is the epitome of solitude, diving into the past and wandering through unknown lands. The end of the poem brings about the ultimate solitude, death. In death there can be no more searching for companions and there is no one to stay by you. Alastor’s quest leads him from a life of solitude to an afterlife of even more solitude.
“Mont Blanc” is solitude personified in the shape of a mountain. There is no life on the mountain; it is bare of everything, essentially dead. It is a place where no humans venture, and life is kept hidden away “Within the daedal earth” (86). The mountain itself seems to swallow up all the life and destroy it. With no life comes the solitude that is presented with the poem.
Silence seems to be a main focus within this poem, but not directly spoken about. Lines 5 starts with "The source of human thought its tribute brings." The mind is a silent place that only the person that it belongs to know about. The mind holds secrets that a person can either share or keep to themselves. There are also silent concepts within this poem such as: a cloud, a feeble brook, eternity, sleep, and darkness which all connote silence. Throughout the poem the stanzas describe silent undertones which supports the mellow tone of the poem. Lines 124 "The breath and blood of distant lands...," is also a silent and quite concept.Than at the end of the poem Shelley talks about sounds directly which shifts the poem in a different direction from the silence. -Tiara Henson
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