The Poem First I dream by Sor Juana - Essay Example

First I Dream by Sor Juana The poem, First I dream is referred to as the longest, personal and one full of ambitions in the wide history of poetry written in 1685; and consisting of lines as many as 975, in a verse form. The poem is illusional and very important to her as it focuses on the desire of man to get to know and understand the world in a better way. Being that the poem is full of illusions, it contains, therefore, a lot of images that can be associated with sleep; as the events of the soul are only possible when the body is a sleep and therefore in slumber. The use of baroque language in the poem makes it easier for the reader to understand the journey of the soul to the universe, in search for knowledge; at a time the body and universe are asleep. First I Dream is therefore referred to as a sublime poem, as whenever the body sleeps, the soul gets a chance to rise out of its darkness in order to seek some form of extra knowledge. In this essay, therefore, we shall focus on the beauty of the soul as brought out by the use of sublime in the poem. According to her, the soul is a place full of darkness, though has color in it that can dig and found out much information on what exists around us. Being the feminist she was, Sor in most cases took time in the writing of deep poems that defended the rights of women, as in the case of the poem, First I Dream. The poem has a deeper message in it, which is about the aspirations of a woman to come out of the cocoon brought upon her by the society she lives. The uniqueness of the poem can be realized in cases when the soul comes to light and becomes active at a time the body is asleep, which is a time for knowledge advancement for the soul. When the senses of the body, however, awaken, the soul goes into darkness again, till the body slumbers again. As the world goes to sleep, the body follows, and while the two are dead asleep, some organs in the body, in this case, the soul, keep working. In an attempt to discover the universe, the soul journeys through the universe in an attempt to discover much about it; which, however, proves to be impossible. It is due to the diverse nature of the universe that it is almost impossible for the soul to comprehend fully these aspects of the universe it so wishes, as it is at this point too confused to reason. It is then that the soul discovers that the easiest way to go about this form of discovery is through handling of aspect at a time, as understanding everything at once is next to impossible. Due to the great task involved in the discovery of the universe, the soul feels that it would have been better if center did not exist, so that there is no struggle to create a union with the divine. This hesitation of the soul to the point of giving up brings up an option in remembrance of Phaeton, who was determined to make his name even in cases of impossibility. The journey taken by the soul is however at this point stopped by the sudden wake up of the body from slumber; which, therefore, means that the soul goes back to darkness. According to Sor Juana, the soul does not belong to a particular gender; which is quite alright as we all know what deep grief gender is capable of causing. Much of the knowledge Sor had on the grief of gender is through the personal experiences that she went through as a nun, in a world filled with male domination. Being that the soul did not belong to a particular gender, in reference to the domination of the world by men, there was no limit as to where the soul could reach in terms of its navigation. Besides the limits that could have been brought about by gender, the soul in the First Dream poem is equally free from the limits that the earth could give. Following the fact that the soul works at the time the body is asleep, it then can be referred to as a spiritual journey of the soul through space, which therefore has no connections and therefore hindrances by the earth. The use of language in the First Dream poem is also quite outstanding. Sor Juana in the first lines of the poem uses words like; doleful, pyramidal, mournful shadow born of earth and haughty culmination of the vain obelisks, thrust toward the heavens attempting to ascend and touch the skies in explaining the fall of the night and the sudden fall of the body into sleep. The coming of the night and the preparation of the body to sleep, according to Sor Juana, are full of myths and physical phenomena. A figure such as ascalaphas, to her, have an important function in bringing about nightfall, and it is at this point than not only the human body falls asleep but the sea and its creatures too. Sleep is, therefore, the most powerful aspect of existence here, as it is the one that creates a balance. The soul can undertake its journeys to the universe when the body is asleep because as the body slumbers, the vital functions of the body are still in operation; and therefore are able to keep the brain alive for the required functions. It is at the time the body is occupied that the soul is at liberty to follow its desires, be in full observation and, therefore, get the ability to comprehend the universe. Sor Juana describes the soul as a "beauteous essence and discarnate being". The soul is described as a shape of a pyramid, which in a continuous manner moves towards the skies. This can also be related to the Babel Towers, which were very high up the sky, and the constructors still aimed higher, which is what the soul is and should be like. The position of the tower, according to Sor Juana, is, however, lower than where the soul is capable of reaching. The heights that the soul can go in its adventure in the universe are quite high that it keeps wondering about the diversity of the creation that the universe holds; which seems quite different from the quest and earlier on determination to venture the earth without limits. It is therefore through the poem, First Dream that Juana leaves us an opportunity to think deeply about the soul and its effort to discover knowledge about the world. Through Juanas poem, we get also to understand the reason, as far as the soul is concerned. The soul is ever out on its way to search the earth whenever the body is asleep, meaning that it does not want to rely on faith in the understanding of the world, but reason for why things happen as they do. It is through the baroque language of the poet also that we get to understand better the journey of the soul to the universe in trying to make a discovery of it. In the essay, it is clear indeed how beautiful the soul is according to Sor Juanas poem, First I Dream. Its work as per the poem starts when the whole universe is overcome by darkness, and the body follows in the slumber. It is interesting how the two; body and soul interchange their duties depending on light and darkness, as immediately light comes up, the soul goes into sleep while the body awakens. The use of baroque language in the poem also serves as a proper base for the comprehension of the journey of the soul through the universe; and therefore understanding of creation. It is through the language, with the use of deep and vivid descriptions that the full understanding of the journeys of the soul is achieved. The soul in the First I Dream poem has been symbolized by the tower of Babel or the pyramids that are directed up the skies; more so the Tower of Babel which was very high but still under vertical construction. Sor Juana, however, says that the journeys of the soul are far much higher than Babel, as the soul navigates to even the impossible areas to reach, just to get some knowledge of the earth. Read More