ODE ( in ancient meter)

In the first stanza of the poem Oda(n metru antic) we find themes like: solitude death, love, and self-knowledge. Is the confesion of the artist, the creator who aspire towords the absolute. I never thought I would ever learn to die is the most tragic line in this poetry because it explain the inner pain of the artist, you cant learn to die , this action of learning something which is impossible implies obligatory restlessness, death is only a pass to something else to absolute to something more profound. These death wich the poet learns is the one that will release the spirit, is like a metamorphosis, like a initiation. The artist says that he never thought that he would learn to day because when you are young death seems to be so far away that gives you sometimes the feeling that you are immortal like the nature and in these case in a romantic analyze the creator seems to identify himself with the cosmos and with the idea of regeneration. Forever young ,enveloped in my cloak if we pay attention to the cloak and we refer to Christianity, we can associate on a way the image of the artist with the image of the monks who wears these like a symbol of their choice of isolation with regard of the material world and a permanent search of God and of the inner good that exist in every human being. The artist uses these expression because in his case just like in the case of the monks the cloak represent a wall between him and the material and limited world. He chooses isolation because he cant find his place in the society, where evrething that is different is not accepted and is judget. So choosing this isolation the artist choose something better something spiritual and he can be Forever young because his spirit and soul cant be altered by the others, by limitation and materialism. On the other way Bible sais that when Jesus was juged was forced to wear a red cloak and a crown ofthorns in order to be humiliated, we can associate this image to the artist and in this case the cloak can represent pain like a punish and humiliation, shame. A pain provocated by the rest and more important by his own condition because in the artist vision to be human is degrading. . I rose my dreaming eyes to the star/ Of solitude in Platons view when people look to the star they look for immortality in a different form, he belivedthat at the beginig souls were flouting somewhere between Sky and Earth trying to find their way. Some of the souls were able to asced to the sky and to became Gods while the rest have hit the canopy of heaven and they fell on Earth where by mixing with clay have turned in human beings. Since then people looks up to the sky hoping that one day they can became Gods. Here the artist can be seen like the people who are looking for a upper condition because his human body is not enough for the spirit who feels captive in this body like in a prision.Loneliness is caused by the ego of the creator, of the artist and by his condition of human being because he needs something else a
1

superior condition, a relese and the only way to obtain these things is death who is seen here like a pass to next level, the level of the spirit and spirituality knowledge. The star of solitude is a symbol of the theme of solitude because the artist choose isolation in order to keep his spirit pure, complete, profound and untouched by the human misery like in Christianity when Jesus choose isolation during 40 days time while he fasts and lives in the desert helped by Holy Spirit. Time of the verbs in first stanza is Imperfect wich in Romanian language express action that arent finished so these pain and these learning of the artist is continuous. Self -knowledge is the beginning of the self-transformation when you touch these level you can live counciously of one self. In the second stanza of the poem, in the dreamy atmosphere, suffering appears as the main theme Cnd deodat tu rsrii n cale-mi, suferin tu the poet in this way was taken by surprise. The great pain caused and still present is highlighted by the perfect simple verbs like rsrii and bui. In the second verse, we discover a personal pronoun tu, that help at the personification of the suffering and also we can take it as a direct addressing to her. The beginning of the poem brings also in attention the production of an emotional stability. The loss of this stability means that the human being lost himself and this fact is accentuated by the oxymoron dureros de dulce. Pain can function like an intrument used in order to achieve the spiritual ascent. Every person must know the pain along his life because only in this way (knowing good and evil ), can become a stronger person physically, mentally and also spiritually. In the third verse Pn-n fund bui voluptatea morii we find various meanings. The action of drinking the voluptuosness death makes us remember the Holy Grail from which Jesus drank during the Last Supper or the chalice used to collect the blood of Jesus after crucifiction. The writer uses a second oxymoron voluptatea morii/ Ne-nduratoare, to accentuate the double condition of the human being who aspire everytime to the absolute but also remains tied to the land in which he was born and where it will return at the end of his life. The two main themes of this stanza are love and death. Love doesnt appear directly in these four verses but it can be revealed from the personification of the suffering which may refer to a woman and also caused this suffering. On the other hand, death appears directly in the third verse. Poet may see death as a solution to his suffering. This solution could help him to become the man who was before the experience of love. Here we can refer to Ionaby Marin Sorescu and say that death can be seen sometimes as a liberation. If in many cultures and also mythologies we can find the world divided in two (Paradise and Hell, in Greek mythology the realm (which is underground) of the dead is only one and is led by god Hades. Greeks had a pessimistic perception of death. The world of the dead
2

was separated from the other world by the river Styx and the connection is made through a boat driven by Charon. Greeks buried with the deceased a few coins to have for Charon. If the deceased doesnt give the money to Charon, he remained between life and death on the shore. In the Romanian Mythology, human life passes through three stages: birth, marriage and burial (death ). After death, the soul separates from the body, it integrates the cosmos and unites with nature, forming with it a whole. So afterlife is just a continuation of the of the land but even so death is seen as a tragic event. In The Christian religion death is not seen as an end, but there is the possibility of resurrection and was associated with sleep. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake (Dan . 12:2) . Another passage from the Bible emphasizes the idea of resurection But you, go your way till the end; for you shall rest, and will rise to your inheritance at the end of the days( Dan. 12:13) . In third stanza is represent by two symbols in particular by centaur Nessus and Hercules the son of Zeus and of and earthly woman Alcmena, but also is about suffering of lyrical ego caused by woman in love, the lyrical egos oscillates between two spirits. The symbols Nessus and Hercules is caused by the woman love Deianira, is ilustrated trough these symbols a evocation heroes an mythical stories, in the tale is about Hercules who is married with Deianira, who will be rape of Nessus. Both love Deianira and they are fight for she, in the first instance Hercules hurt Nesuus with an poisonous arrow until reach Hercules if the island were are Deianira and Nessus, she is advised by Nessus to soften a coat in his blood poisoned telling she if a dress the coat Hercules will return she. The second stage Deianira is jelous of Hercules and she is dress with the poisoned robe that is sticks by the body of Hercules. Hercules does not support the pain and prefer spare their pain burning on a pyre, than endure the pain. Off the pyre Hercules is taken in Olympus and is converted in a immortal man on the strength of his act, this pain is illustrated in the first version Wretched I burn alive tormented like Nessus by this verse is the suffering and the conscious of lyrical ego also. Invocation of these mythological characters is designed to create an personal mythology suggesting throes of the poet due to their love, both characters die in love for Deianira. In conclusion the suffering poet is compared with Hercules and Nessus, two characters from mythology. Out of these characters mythology it is also the fire symbols who suggestting the passion of poet which is turn in the suffering of poet. The syntagma my fire suggest the suffering that one feels is due him in highly part. From point of grammar are used verbs in the present and conjunctive present such as fire and my fire who are sugesting once more the pain of the Hercules when he is burnt on
3

the stake . This pain can not be stopped not all waters, burning intensity it is illustrated in the last two version My fire cant be quenched by all the waters Of the seas.. The fourth stanza indicates the lyrical suffering caused by the loss of state of peace due to the feeling of love that made its way into his life. The lyrics By my own dream, consumed, I m whining/ On my own pyre Im melting in flames suggest the antithesis between the genius who is the only able to go beyond the subjectivity, beyond himself and the common man who can not overcome the subjective condition. In this way we can also remember Hercules earthly and divine origin. Thereby, the lyrical ego feels detached from oneself through love, highlighting the dual condition of a human being,the humans paradox, who aspires to love through solitude. The two lines represent a relation of syntactic symmetry which amplifies the inner struggle by using words from semantic field of the term fire like pyre, Im melting and flames. This pain is also expressed by the use of verbs in the Present Tense which shows that the lyrical state is actual. The image of pyre is a metaphor of self laceration, is an allusion to the need to overcome an existential test in order to find the initial peace. The interrogation Can I revive? introduces another fabulous character, Phoenix that always regenerates, that it is able to reborn from its own ashes. This reprezents a symbol of hope and spiritual recovery and also marks the eternal search for knowledge. In this sense, death is the only solution for him because he can revive. The negative aspect of fire through that it chokes, destroys, it is canceled by the epithet brightly, which involves the spiritual and initiatory aspect of this test. As a result of these processes of sublimation, spiritualization by burning and consume, the poet has access to the purification and regeneration. The stanza ends with a line in which potentiality blends with doubt Can I ever brightly revive from it / Like the Phoenix?. The reborn is possible because the ashes contains two antithetic terms: death and reborn represented by the presence of Phoenix. May all tempting eyes vanish from my pathway Come back to my breast, you indifferent sorrow! So that I may quietly die, restore me To my own being!1 (Translated by Andrei Banta)

In the last stanza is expressed lyrical desire to return to primary state of tranquility, called by Greek philosophers Ataraxis (from a without and taraxis trouble, disorder,

http://poezii.iis.ro/poezii-traduse-engleza/mihai-eminescu-eng/ode-in-ancient-meter/, last accessed on April, 21th.

unrest), namely the moral ideal of spiritual serenity2. Ataraxis is achieved through detachment from the world turmoil (Epicurus), through uprooting passions (Stoics) or through unconcern (Skeptics). The first verse ,,May all tempting eyes vanish from my pathway represents a conscious removal from the temptations of love. Return to the primary state, dominated by indifferent sorrow. This metaphor means eliminating of any human feeling, and has a final purpose I may quietly die. Ioana Em.Petrescu said: ,,Restoring primary harmony of wasted ego through sim ply fact of its existence, in the world founded by him, is the subject of this Ode, and also it is an elegy of dissipation in time and a prayer of a reunion of human being through death. 3 Death is the symbol of the end of a human being, or of a green plant, or of an animal, or of a friendship, or of peace. But, philosophically speaking, Death is the symbol of a higher spiritual life 4. Through love, man of genius knows suffering. Dies only one who knows himself, said Nichita Stnescu in his poem Eleventh Elegy. In this respect, Love and Death are the marks of an initiatory path. Eminescu creates this philosophically poem as a way of self-knowledge and a constant learning of death. Pablo Neruda wrote a poem called Who dies? : Dies slowly he who transforms himself into a slave of habit,/repeating every day the same routines,/ who does not change brands,/does not risk wearing a new color, nor talking to those he doesn't/ know. 5In the Roumanian version, the poet passes from the imperfect tense of the verb through the simple perfect to the imperative mood, and this fact signifies a permanent conflict between reason and feeling. In the last stanza, the verbs are in the imperative mood and suggest the human being aspiration to restore self. Eminescu uses the Sapphic stanza, named after ancient poetess Sappho. The form is two hendecasyllabic verses, and a third verse beginning the same way and continuing with five additional syllables6. The title defines the literary genre, but it is an antithesis between definition and theme of poetry. The theme illustrates the superiority of a genius, especially regarding knowledge and self-knowledge. A man of genius has a tragic destiny because his suffering produces the desire of freedom. Tragedy is the claims form to get free.7

2 3

Octavian Chean, Radu Sommer coord., Dicionar de filozofie, Editura politic, Bucureti, 1978, p.49. Ioana Em.Petrescu, Eminescu- poet tragic, Editura Junimea, Iai, 1994, p.200. ,,Refacerea armoniei originare a eului risipit, prin simplul fapt al existenei, n lumea pe care el e chemat s o ntemeieze, este, astfel, obiectul acestei Ode, care e totodat, o elegie a risipirii n timp i o rugciune a rentregirii fiinei prin moarte. 4 Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant, Dicionar de simboluri, Editura Artemis, Bucureti, [f.a.], pp.314 -316. 5 http://johnfenzel.typepad.com, last accessed on April, 21th. 6 Cristina Ionescu, Gheorghe Lzrescu, Teoria literaturii, Manual pentru liceele de filologie istorie, Editura Didactic i pedagogic, Bucureti, 1980. 7 Gabriela Vasilescu, Estetica, Editura Premier, [f.l.], 2004, p.137.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
1. Dicionar de simboluri, Jean Chevalier, Alain Gheerbrant, Bucureti: Editura Artemis, [s.a.]. 2. Dicionar de filozofie,Octavian Chean, Radu Sommer coord., Bucureti: Editura Politic, 1978. 3. Eminescu poet tragic, Ioana Em. Petrescu, Iai: Editura Junimea, 1994. 4. Estetica, Gabriela Vasilescu, [s.l.]: Editura Premier, 2004. 5. Gramatica pentru toi, Mioara Avram, Bucureti: Humanitas Educaional, Ediia a III-a, 2001. 6. Holy Bible, The New King James Version, Nashville: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1982. 7. Teoria literaturii, Cristina Ionescu, Gheorghe Lzrescu, Bucureti: Editura didactic i pedagogic, 1980. 8. http://johnfenzel.typepad.com. 9. http://poezii.iis.ro.