Our Past as a Dream: Edgar Allan Poe

“It is by no means an irrational fancy that, in a future existence, we shall look upon what we think our present existence, as a dream.” 

I cannot agree more with Poe’s statement here. Even within the stream of a single lifespan our distant past presents itself often as if it were a dream. One wonders: Is the life of the caterpillar a dream to the butterfly?

Let us entertain the thought that life persists after death (for myself, I believe it does). Just what will we remember of this existence? Will we remember the taste of the foods we enjoyed while we were here? Will we remember the cold sensation of winter breezes, the ancient auburn hue hovering over falling autumn leaves, the perfumed smell of loam-drenched trees after a summer thunderstorm, or the distant melodies of tiny birds greeting spring’s sunny advent?

One thing is certain, if life does persist after the death of our bodies, then Poe—at this very moment, wherever he is out there—knows the answer to our inquiry, and the truth of the above quote of his.

Edgar Allan Poe: January 19, 1809 — October 7, 1849 Happy 211th, dear poet

About a Dream I Had

Monarch

These lift me through the airy height

These wings acquired through a night

Into a foreign world above

Of light and warmth and truth and love

What seems a dream are days gone by

When I knew nothing of the sky

Just toil on an earthly bed

And thoughts of milkweed in my head

But then I there within a husk

That dangled from an Aspen tusk

Began to form a different bent

That I knew not was Heaven meant

And now I’m lifted through this air

And though attaining beauty fair

The only thing that moves me now

Is that I share this flight somehow

 -jwm

Of the Poem

I think it was in 2008, but I was asleep one afternoon when in my dream these words- in both rhyme and meter- came to me: "But then I there within a husk / That dangled from an Aspen tusk". I woke up, I wrote them down, and for the next several weeks tried to give context to them in this poem above.

I chose the simple rhyme scheme of aabb based on the scheme given me in the dream, and adhered to iambic tetrameter as the guiding meter for the same reason.

The works of Emanuel Swedenborg heavily influenced the content and message of the poem, as did the idea of redemption.

I hope you guys enjoyed it.

About a Dream

On January 26th of 2009 I completed a poem entitled Monarch- I posted it here in April of the same year without explanation.

The truth is I should have at least mentioned- in that post- a rather interesting and wonderful fact about it: that it originated in a dream.

True story. I was asleep on the couch power napping as my daughter was playing nearby ... I was in a sort of 'in-between' state of wake and sleep when gradually these very lines- in meter, mind you!- came to me:

But then I there within a husk
That dangled from an Aspen tusk

I woke up and immediately wrote it down- surprised, as I mentioned, that they rhymed and were in tetrameter.

Now I don't know how the subject of the dream emerged, but what I do know is that its point revolved around the idea internal change followed by redemption- with the cocoon (the husk) symbolizing the process.

Before I knew it I found myself completely absorbed in constructing a poem around these lines. I already knew what the meter would be, knew that quatrains would make up the stanzas, and I essentially knew that I'd use aabb as the rhyme scheme. What I didn't have was much material to construct the appropriate images for the poem.

But then- and this is no joke- the very next day Nova aired The Incredible Journey of the Butterflies, a documentary about the "2,000-mile migration of monarchs to a sanctuary in the highlands of Mexico". It goes without saying, I was thrilled.

And so the reason for this particular post was to share the source of inspiration behind the poem, namely, a dream. I'll re-post it in the comments area if you'd like to read it (or, just click on the 'Monarch' link above). Also, and I really recommend this, click the link for that documentary ... it's only 52 minutes and way worth the while.

In Reference to the Previous Post

In the name of the Bee—
And of the Butterfly—
And of the Breeze— Amen!

Emily Dickinson

I just read this poem by Dickinson and thought its concluding lines very delightful considering the subject of my previous post. See comments area for the poem in its entirety.

A Fourth Grade Memory

Stop killing butterflies, I said,
It's wrong to have these creatures dead.
Then his reply- which had me freeze-
Was well, then you stop killing bees.

-jwm


Of the Poem (Fourth Grade History):

What an unruly creature of destruction I was as a child. I remember- as clear as if it were yesterday- a time when I was a little boy in the fourth grade playing outside during recess. I tore a switch off of a tree and used it to smack the heads off of dandelions. This bored me, so I turned my weapon against some flying insects (dragonflies and bees, mostly).

A friend suddenly showed up and joined me in the onslaught. I noticed very quickly that he was targeting butterflies, and rebuked him for it. Without missing a beat he said: "Well, you're killing bees." My heart sank because at that very moment I realized I was actually harming something. Remorseful still, I haven't targeted a bee since.

Anyhow, hence the above quatrain.