Amor Mundi

Question 1

AM: Path metaphor/symbolism
1. ‘T d p i e, c w m’
2. ‘W s e t u b n t b’
3. ‘T b w t b I f i h o t’
4. ‘T d p i e, b t n t b’

Answer 1

1. ‘The downhill path is easy, come with me…’: luring voice of sinful temptation which indicates that downhill is ‘easy’, implying that to pursue an uphill climb would be a laborious toil, not worth the strenuous effort. Potentially crafted as a mouthpiece for Victorian society which prioritises self-gain over spiritual enlightenment. ‘Come with me’ perhaps from a feminist angle indicates how easily young women can be tempted by others to partake in sexually promiscuous acts & how it is not necessarily they who are to blame as they naively follow the acts of others.
2. ‘We shall escape the uphill by never turning back’: permanence of one’s decision & the irreversible nature of ‘religious’ and moral betrayal of God. The emphatic ‘escape’ is evocative of avoiding a terrible fate or an arduous ordeal, perhaps reinforcing how humanity tends to opt for the perceivably easier, less strenuous and demanding ‘path’ because people are unwilling to persevere with the trials and tribulations of life (symbolised by the uphill path).
3. ‘This beaten way thou beatest I fear is hell’s own track’: ‘beaten’ suggests a worn-out, well trodden path, indicating that the path of immorality is the popularised path, selected by many within the Victorian era. In fact it could even represent the genuine decline in Churchgoing steadily occurring during this period, signalling humanity’s decline in pursuing religious guidance.
4. ‘This downhill path is easy, but there’s no turning back’: Imagery of decline represents one’s moral decline by opting for the perceivably ‘easier’ route in life. The inability to revoke or undo one’s decision (potentially the decision to abandon God & his teachings) reveals that a dedication to a life of immorality is irreversible = once you have committed sinful actions you cannot reverse their impact upon you, thus you cannot achieve moral & spiritual redemption.

Question 2

AM: Sf of death/environmental decay:
1. ‘g c-f…b c h r…a m s u’.
2. ‘O w t i t h, s p I q t f’
3. ‘O t a t d b t w t e t’

Answer 2

1. a series of increasingly bleak images to evoke a sense of impending doom: ‘gray cloud-flakes…blackest clouds hang riven…a meteor sent us’. This triadic list of grave environmental disarray through pathetic fallacy evokes a sense of nature in turmoil as the weather evolves from ‘gray’ to ‘blackest’ to an eventual ‘meteor’, suggestive of a continuous corruption of the natural realm which no longer appears fresh but in a state of irreparable decay. Could perhaps suggest a clinging immorality that will pursue the speaker for life. Perhaps a metaphorical manifestation of increasing ecotheological concerns in the Victorian era = meteor could be a symbol or message from God himself to ward off transgressive or immoral behaviour by plaguing humanity with rather foul natural disasters or events to guide people towards acting as better custodians for the Earth. In fact, the meteor acts as a final, almost apocalyptic warning to humanity to change its ways of overconsumption of fossil fuels and industrial processes lest the foundation of the Earth itself be wholly dismantled.
2. ‘Oh whats that in teh hollow, so pale I quake to follow?’: polysemic quality of ‘hollow’ coupled with the drained vibrancy and vitality of ‘pale’ conjures a person or figure entirely devoid of life and depleted of all sources of sustenance. Perhaps this sustenance they have so gravely been deprived of is that of a spiritual kind, perhaps God’s spiritual guidance, which serves as a warning to these moral transgressors to ‘turn back’ to the teachings of God or else they will be doomed to live an unfulfilling life. Ecotheologically => a failure to care for the natural realm is a failure to care for God himself which ultimately dooms humanity to a state of living death.
3. ‘Oh thats a thin dead body which waits the eternal term.’ Repeated exclamation appears rather ‘matter of fact’, suggesting that the Earth/humanity has reached a state of complete ignorance, completely unable to display any form of compassion or fear when realising the melancholy fate of those who stray from God’s teachings. Therefore, plays back into notion of avoiding the uphill path as a normalised action i.e. ‘beaten track’, implying that humanity has become disillusioned with religion and resides in a state of apathy, unable to wholly comprehend the severity of a ‘thin dead body’. Hugely bleak image of ‘thin dead body’ evokes a lifeless, prone figure trapped in a state of stasis along the path, unable to achieve any sort of mobility => perhaps symbolic of the cyclical fate of teh fallen woman who is confined to a state of everlasting waiting (the eternal term) & a callous society that cares not to provide them with an opportunity for redemption.