Of Duty and Deities

[Kendricke]

Alas, I look up to the skies

that shone once with the lights of valor,

Reminiscing on those times long past,

the present skies have lost that splendor.

 

Verily, I make my vows!

that if the Gods do what they must,

I shall stand against them now

and fight them in renewed disgust!

[Peredhil]

As poetry should, you've evoked meaning with in me that may not be what was meant.

 

I can't help but project my own echos of Archmage vs Everquest into this poem.

 

The skies of Archmage were tight, purposefully, with opportunities for teamwork, esprit de corps, the tensions and addictions of combat in a 'safe' setting. The games cycles were short enough to produce a constant feeling of urgency and immediacy, but cyclic enough to give familiarity and renewed energy. The game would wait on you, and a skillful player could go a week without playing and survive (although not excell (unless he was Dave McW.))

 

EverQuest is open-ended, lacking any interior urgency or focus. The focus is more on the interaction of the people, but they must provide their own goals. The game doesn't produce the same sense of identity and cohesion, reacting against a common exterior threat. In the EQ land of the lotus eaters, there is a tendency to wander away exploring minor details or inclinations. Leadership in this environment is more like herding cats.

 

The payoffs are somewhat intangible. Leveling up only leads to more leveling up. Clicking in a virtual Skinner box leads endlessly to more clicking, with no resolution in sight...

 

Shrugs

 

But then, the only reason to game ANY game at all, is for the people...

 

And in both Archmage and Everquest, the Gods are fickle and largely uncaring. One might indeed shake one's fist at the heavens and cry havoc!

[Wyvern]

Interestingly enough, I interpreted the poem in a very different way, which I suppose further emphasises Peredhil's first comment... Good poetry is always open to individual interpretation.

 

The allusion that I drew from the poem was one of recent tragic events in America, particularly those of September 11. The images of once splendorous skies losing their value invoked in me thoughts of airliners no longer being safe, and the references to Gods doing "what they must" made me think of one of the primary motivations behind people at war in the Middle East...

 

I guess I interpret things more somberly then Big P... ;p

 

 

[image]http://members.shaw.ca/kea/am/wyvy.jpg[/image]

 

------------------------------

Almost a Dragon...

"My life is one big crime, I try to scheme through it." -Common, "The 6th Sense"

 

Owner of the Decanter of Endless Booze.

Edited by: Wyvern00  at: 6/30/02 2:16:29 am

[Guest Xradion]

        Sorry, Wyvern, but YOU'RE WRONG!!! Just kidding. The only reason I say this is because there is nothing in the poem that clearly points to any one event in history. Perhaps this is what Kendrike had in mind, but it would be just as easily to say that it is an allusion to the pettiness of Gods in many polytheistic systems (this poem made me think of Hercules and the Greek Gods for some reason, though there is nothing in the poem itself that would directly relate solely to this, of course). However, I agree with you in the sense that I think this poem can be delved into deeper to show other levels of meening.

 

        To me, this poem reflective of man's defiance at the end of a cycle, seemingly imposed by forces greater than man. This poem made me think of someone standing defiantly against the "Gods" at the end of the cycle of an empire, such as the collapse of Greece, Rome, or even Babylon, for that matter. If it is the Gods' duty to sever the fates of man, than some men will fight against the Gods, and refuse to go gently into that good night. The irony of course (not so much in the poem itself as in life in general) is that the forces that bring about the ends of these cycles are not supernatural at all, and, in fact, are man-made much of the time.

 

 

 

 

Xradion,

The Horny Druid,

Scholar of the Ancient Arts,

Holder of the Eye of Odin.

 

"The only emperor is the emperor of ice-cream."

-Wallace Stevens

 

"When at home, do as the Homans do." –Xradion

[The Portrait of Zool]

I think X it makes you think of classic mythology because of the Hubris displayed in the last stanza. It does me.

 

To me the poem is really about nothing more than disillusionment, and more illusion. It is a tantrum of heroic proportions.

 

Disillusionment, from the first stanza, where he looks up in the sky and 'reminsces' of the valor and splendor he once found there. The sky is the sky, and what could have changed since 'those days long past', except the observer? He once believed in something, and now it is gone, and so the subject feels, irrecoverably, in his heart.

 

Then, like a child who has been shown his imaginary friend doesn't exist, he answers groundlessness with spite. The irony is, though he overtly states his desire for valor and splendor, he manifests disgust and violence at the revelation of the 'skies' as they really are. Further, he fights in 'renewed' disgust. Has he felt the gods were against him always? The poem does not elaborate on that, only the tenuousness of our illusions, and the anger with which we defend them even after they are gone.

[Kendricke]

I was going to comment on the intended meaning behind this particular poem, but then realized that I'd be destroying a great many of the fantastic interpretations that have been put forth so far.

 

Keep 'em coming!

[Nyyark]

I saw this to be a declarations of holding to standards. It seems that while something was once great, now it has fallen, but the valiant narrator will not fall without a struggle, no matter how big the opposition is, in this case the Gods themselves.

 

I really like the idea, I think it is important to hold to your ideals no matter how the rest of the world is changing. Even if you shouldn't be able to win the fight, others may be inspired by one, and growth from there is exponential.

 

I do disagree with this a little though, because only 'The Gods' can make the world play by their rules, thus adaptation is important too. Perhaps its best to hold to your Ideals as a structure, and then grow to the situation.

 

Well that's what I took from this, or maybe by reading and responding gave. Its a good work in which the more its read, the more it grows.