Edgar Allan Poe
Excerpt from “To — Ulalume: A Ballad” (1847)
Here once, through an alley Titanic,
Of cypress, I roamed with my Soul—
Of cypress, with Psyche, my Soul.
These were days when my heart was volcanic
As the scoriac rivers that roll—
As the lavas that restlessly roll
Their sulphurous currents down Yaanek
In the ultimate climes of the pole—
That groan as they roll down Mount Yaanek
In the realms of the boreal pole.
Our talk had been serious and sober,
But our thoughts they were palsied and sere—
Our memories were treacherous and sere–
For we knew not the month was October,
And we marked not the night of the year—
(Ah, night of all nights in the year!)
We noted not the dim lake of Auber—
(Though once we had journeyed down here)—
We remembered not the dank tarn of Auber,
Nor the ghoul-haunted woodland of Weir.
And now, as the night was senescent
And star-dials pointed to morn—
As the star-dials hinted of morn—
At the end of our path a liquescent
And nebulous luster was born,
Out of which a miraculous crescent
Arose with a duplicated horn—
Astarte’s bediamonded crescent
Distinct with its duplicate horn.
And I said – “She is warmer than Dian:
She rolls through an ether of sighs—
She revels in a region of sighs:
She has seen that the tears are not dry on
These cheeks, where the worm never dies,
And has come past the stars of the Lion
To point us the path to the skies—
To the Lethean peace of the skies—
Come up, in despite of the Lion,
To shine on us with her bright eyes—
Come up through the lair of the Lion,
With love in her luminous eyes.”
But Psyche, uplifting her finger,
Said – “Sadly this star I mistrust—
Her pallor I strangely mistrust:—
Oh hasten! oh, let us not linger!
Oh fly! – let us fly! – for we must.”
In terror she spoke, letting sink her
Wings till they trailed in the dust—
In agony sobbed, letting sink her
Plumes till they trailed in the dust—
Till they sorrowfully trailed in the dust.
In Edgar Allan Poe’s “To — Ulalume: A Ballad” the speaker is a man whose deranged and demented mind takes on a life on its own. Throughout the poem, the speaker, while walking through a withering forest, talks to another being that he refers to as “Psyche.” Although the insane speaker speaks of this other being as a “she,” it is clear that “Psyche” is in fact his soul, mind, or a combination of the two. We may not know if the speaker is talking out loud to “Psyche,” but either way we know that their conversation becomes so intimate and intense that eventually (although not shown in the above excerpt) the speaker claims to have “pacified Psyche and kissed her…”
Let’s begin with reimagining Poe’s poem. If the poem, for instance, featured a man who, although deeply depressed, did not speak to himself so much to the point that he actually creates an entirely other being, we would read the poem completely different. First of all, we probably would not be as confused. Second, we may actually have the ability to relate to this man and his sullen state. Even if we were able to peak into the inner-most workings of his mind and know his thoughts, feelings, and emotions, the fact that they were contained inside of his head would give us the impression that perhaps this man is not too far away from ourselves.
So, here’s my question: How much talking to yourself is too much talking to yourself? What is the amount of words or volume of speech that one must have in order to get that “what-the-fu*k?” look from a passerby while walking down Commonwealth Avenue?
After discussing this matter with some co-workers, some friends, and myself (guilty!), I think I have it down. Here are some of the occasions in which it is acceptable to talk to yourself:
Bluetooth: Excellent tool for talking to oneself. If someone has one of those little headset things in his ear, then he’s in the clear. However, there is a drawback: if the passerby does not see the headset, he may think this individual is crazy. For instance, while standing on line at the deli counter at the grocery store, I heard a man behind me talking about how his day at the office went. I spent a good 45-50 seconds wondering if the man was lonely/insane or if he was talking on the phone before I had to clear up the matter for myself. What’s interesting about the whole headset dilemma is the fact that we don’t know if the person is actually speaking to someone or not! We may be able to make a hypothesis depending on how much we pry, but when it comes down to it, we are unsure if there is actually another human at the other end of the conversation and this uncertainty allows us to continue on our ways.
Cell phone: Finally, texting has saved us! I believe that if a person, while looking down at his phone and perhaps having both thumbs on the keypad, is speaking out loud to himself, this will be pretty much widely accepted by the public. After all, texting means you have friends, right? Or at least some family members who want to know how school’s going. Or at least some co-workers who need a shift covered. And people with friends, family, or co-workers can’t be crazy, right? I digress. In addition, looking down at one’s cell phone or texting means that you probably have some mental processes going on in your brain. Therefore, you may need to sort out some of these processes out loud. As many people have cell phones and (most) have mental capabilities, we are likely to overlook this person’s speaking to himself, as long as it doesn’t get too loud for us to hear our own thoughts.
Insults: I have sometimes found myself in the position where someone, being serious or not, has insulted me. Rarely have I had an awesome comeback. Usually the person leaves the room, and I am left with all the insults I should have said back but was too slow to think of them. I find myself reenacting the scene in my head, only with my noxious words included and the person running away and crying in fear. Sometimes, these reenactments seep their way out of my mind and into my mouth. Come on, we’ve all done it. We play the coulda-woulda-shoulda dance in our heads over and over until we, without realizing it, begin dancing out loud.
I’m sure there are those random occasions where talking to yourself is okay, but besides talking on a Bluetooth, texting on a cell phone, thinking of an insult, or quietly whispering to yourself in a time of deep concentration such as studying for a test, talking to yourself is usually seen as crazy. So, beware that your intimate conversations with your “Psyche” don’t become too loud, unless you want to be seen as that crazy kid who did too many drugs in high school.
