Sunday, September 7, 2014
Robert Frost's "The Demiurge's Laugh"
"It was far in the sameness of the wood; I was running with joy on the Demon's trail, Though I knew what I hunted was no true god. It was just as the light was beginning to fail That I suddenly heard-all I needed to hear: it has lasted meant and many a year. The sound was behind me instead of before, A sleepy sound, but mocking half, As of one who utterly couldn't care. The Demon arose from his wallow laugh, Brushing the dirt from his eye as he went; And well I knew what the Demon meant. I shall not forget how his laugh rang out. I felt as a fool to have been so caught, And checked my steps to make pretense It was something among the leaves I sought (Though doubtful whether he stayed to see). Thereafter I sat me against a tree." This poem portrays a man who realizes that he has spent so much of his life following a lie. This Demon convinces this man that he is a god but the man finds the true nature of him. Now he knows not where he should turn. He questions everything. Who can he trust?
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I think that's pretty close. The trail and demon are just metaphors. He is going in some direction without thought and then is shocked into self-awareness. Demiurge is a creator, so it probably implies god or conscience or something bigger than oneself, not evil. I suspect this is like the epiphanies that come with maturity. Possibly a poem form of "when I was a child I spake as a child... but when I became a man I put away childish things." The author is embarrassed for having been thoughtless and immature.
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