"Laüstic" (Nightingale)
2014.05.28 05:24
"Laüstic" (Nightingale)
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Wolran Kim
October 2013
A bird, Nightingale, was the symbol of love in the lyrics of Provence in the 12th century. John Keats sang like this, “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/ My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,/ Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains” in Ode to a Nightingale. The poet says he is thirsty from drinking the opium, the voice of the Nightingale. The Nightingale is a symbol of freedom here, and the poet compares human suffering to the happy cries of the bird. The Nightingale is metaphor of dreams and ideals, which are compared to reality and the sorrow of human life.
The Nightingale cries or sings during the day and especially at night. Thus, an Anglo-Saxon word for its name is nightsongstress (stress crying at night). This bird shows up in Greek and Northern mythology as transformation or consolation. This bird is also linked to a sign of death from the other way of a good omen. The Nightingale sings to give a peaceful death, pecks at the windows to announce death, and sings to signal an ill omen around a house.
The bird is a product of nature, and lives in a world in which humans cannot be touched. The fact that birds have wings is a key point to symbolize the freedom to fly. Also, the fact that we see flying birds in the eyes as a proper element to express the human desire, is always dreaming. The reality of human attaches its feet to the ground, and the birds are in higher places, flying all over the sky. The characteristics of birds such as wings, height, size, lightness, mobility, and singing voices are all special features that humans yearn for. Thus, the bird trapped in a cage is often portrayed as a symbol of deprived and oppressed liberty. The Nightingale in Laüstic is a metaphor for a woman’s love, soul, freedom and also suffering.
The killing of a bird from her husband represents restraint, jealousy, and also demands of a Christian society. A married woman is the same as a bird in the cage and a woman must stay in the cage without any distracting thoughts. Her lover keeps the dead body of the Nightingale, and this shows the desire to be free with spiritual love and soul. A bird has many proper factors to metaphorically represent tragedy of love and freedom of soul.
Nightingale, a tiny bird, can be seen in many metaphors in this short love story of two and a half pages: communication between a lady and her lover, longing for an ownerless lover, lady’s pleasure, prohibited love, spiritual love, revolt of social system-marriage, secret of soul, incomplete dream, fantastic love, unconditional freedom, night contrasted with day, and darkness.
Also Laüstic can be seen on two different levels, personal and social. Personally, the bird represents human desire that does not ever meet reality. Socially, this bird alludes to breaking all social system such as marriage that restrains personal freedom. All three characters in Laüstic have no name, and this fact opens the possibility that anyone can be the lady and the two knights. The absence of a specific name may represent the sub consciousness of ordinary people. The method of analysis in the class discussion, approaching the opposite argument of the possible metaphors was interesting indeed. I am used to using synonyms and antonyms when I write poetry, but I never thought about this device also making the analysis of other genres richer. Truly, the meaning of ‘restriction’ must be paved over the text, if Nightingale means ‘freedom.’
Why does this lady express the voice of the Nightingale as a song? Does a bird never cry or scream and have the emotion of sadness? Do birds sing for 24 hours? People always say birds are singing, not crying. But I think that birds also cry, and we just don’t know how to distinguish between their singing and crying. The lady says, “Anyone who does not hear the song of the nightingale knows none of the joys of this world.” Here, “the song of the nightingale” is expressed as “the joys of this world,” because the Nightingale is used as a tool to represent the feeling of this lady. The Nightingale sang every time she spent time with her lover at the window. A happy person hears only singing, and an unhappy person hears only crying.
The Nightingale is also used for the lady’s lie, and this bird is visible evidence of the invisible love of the lady. The bird is a metaphor of communication between lovers, and also is connected to the opposite meaning of ‘silence’ through the text. Readers cannot see why this lady fell in love with the knight after getting married, because there is no single clue of the lady’s personal opinion about her lover. They just fell in love. Her husband and her lover are the same renowned knights in the town, and conditions that she might care about are never depicted. Their love began with silence without any background. She might have just needed somebody outside of her marriage life.
Somebody is the same as the bird, the Nightingale, who lives freely outside of her cage. The time of their love is at night, and the silence of the night is compared to a noise or sound of the day. Her husband was also silent (or he might have pretended to sleep) every night until one summer, while his wife was having a mental affair at the window he captured and killed the bird as silent revenge toward his wife and her lover.
The message of the dead bird is another silent communication between lovers. Her lover “carried it with him at all times (96)” the dead bird in “pure gold with fine stones, very precious and valuable (96),” and this action is a part of silence. He does not reply with any words to his lover except with this cautious action. He was silent. A dead body never cries or sings. Her husband makes the Nightingale silent, and his intention is to silence his wife. She should live quietly in the cage, in her marriage, and this request defines the social institutions of marriage’s courtesy and restraint. In this broad sea of silence, the message of the tiny bird becomes more intense. The analysis of the opposed meaning is set off to advantage a real metaphor, as if it is the main object in the opposite colored background in the picture. Usually, the main thesis is emphasized over opposite scenery.
========================
Wolran Kim
October 2013
A bird, Nightingale, was the symbol of love in the lyrics of Provence in the 12th century. John Keats sang like this, “My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains/ My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,/ Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains” in Ode to a Nightingale. The poet says he is thirsty from drinking the opium, the voice of the Nightingale. The Nightingale is a symbol of freedom here, and the poet compares human suffering to the happy cries of the bird. The Nightingale is metaphor of dreams and ideals, which are compared to reality and the sorrow of human life.
The Nightingale cries or sings during the day and especially at night. Thus, an Anglo-Saxon word for its name is nightsongstress (stress crying at night). This bird shows up in Greek and Northern mythology as transformation or consolation. This bird is also linked to a sign of death from the other way of a good omen. The Nightingale sings to give a peaceful death, pecks at the windows to announce death, and sings to signal an ill omen around a house.
The bird is a product of nature, and lives in a world in which humans cannot be touched. The fact that birds have wings is a key point to symbolize the freedom to fly. Also, the fact that we see flying birds in the eyes as a proper element to express the human desire, is always dreaming. The reality of human attaches its feet to the ground, and the birds are in higher places, flying all over the sky. The characteristics of birds such as wings, height, size, lightness, mobility, and singing voices are all special features that humans yearn for. Thus, the bird trapped in a cage is often portrayed as a symbol of deprived and oppressed liberty. The Nightingale in Laüstic is a metaphor for a woman’s love, soul, freedom and also suffering.
The killing of a bird from her husband represents restraint, jealousy, and also demands of a Christian society. A married woman is the same as a bird in the cage and a woman must stay in the cage without any distracting thoughts. Her lover keeps the dead body of the Nightingale, and this shows the desire to be free with spiritual love and soul. A bird has many proper factors to metaphorically represent tragedy of love and freedom of soul.
Nightingale, a tiny bird, can be seen in many metaphors in this short love story of two and a half pages: communication between a lady and her lover, longing for an ownerless lover, lady’s pleasure, prohibited love, spiritual love, revolt of social system-marriage, secret of soul, incomplete dream, fantastic love, unconditional freedom, night contrasted with day, and darkness.
Also Laüstic can be seen on two different levels, personal and social. Personally, the bird represents human desire that does not ever meet reality. Socially, this bird alludes to breaking all social system such as marriage that restrains personal freedom. All three characters in Laüstic have no name, and this fact opens the possibility that anyone can be the lady and the two knights. The absence of a specific name may represent the sub consciousness of ordinary people. The method of analysis in the class discussion, approaching the opposite argument of the possible metaphors was interesting indeed. I am used to using synonyms and antonyms when I write poetry, but I never thought about this device also making the analysis of other genres richer. Truly, the meaning of ‘restriction’ must be paved over the text, if Nightingale means ‘freedom.’
Why does this lady express the voice of the Nightingale as a song? Does a bird never cry or scream and have the emotion of sadness? Do birds sing for 24 hours? People always say birds are singing, not crying. But I think that birds also cry, and we just don’t know how to distinguish between their singing and crying. The lady says, “Anyone who does not hear the song of the nightingale knows none of the joys of this world.” Here, “the song of the nightingale” is expressed as “the joys of this world,” because the Nightingale is used as a tool to represent the feeling of this lady. The Nightingale sang every time she spent time with her lover at the window. A happy person hears only singing, and an unhappy person hears only crying.
The Nightingale is also used for the lady’s lie, and this bird is visible evidence of the invisible love of the lady. The bird is a metaphor of communication between lovers, and also is connected to the opposite meaning of ‘silence’ through the text. Readers cannot see why this lady fell in love with the knight after getting married, because there is no single clue of the lady’s personal opinion about her lover. They just fell in love. Her husband and her lover are the same renowned knights in the town, and conditions that she might care about are never depicted. Their love began with silence without any background. She might have just needed somebody outside of her marriage life.
Somebody is the same as the bird, the Nightingale, who lives freely outside of her cage. The time of their love is at night, and the silence of the night is compared to a noise or sound of the day. Her husband was also silent (or he might have pretended to sleep) every night until one summer, while his wife was having a mental affair at the window he captured and killed the bird as silent revenge toward his wife and her lover.
The message of the dead bird is another silent communication between lovers. Her lover “carried it with him at all times (96)” the dead bird in “pure gold with fine stones, very precious and valuable (96),” and this action is a part of silence. He does not reply with any words to his lover except with this cautious action. He was silent. A dead body never cries or sings. Her husband makes the Nightingale silent, and his intention is to silence his wife. She should live quietly in the cage, in her marriage, and this request defines the social institutions of marriage’s courtesy and restraint. In this broad sea of silence, the message of the tiny bird becomes more intense. The analysis of the opposed meaning is set off to advantage a real metaphor, as if it is the main object in the opposite colored background in the picture. Usually, the main thesis is emphasized over opposite scenery.
