In Praise of Darkness

Fiction | Poem | Adult | Published in 1969

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Summary

Background

Poem Analysis

Themes

Symbols & Motifs

Literary Devices

Symbols & Motifs

Growing Darkness

As the title suggests, the darkness is both a symbol in “In Praise of Darkness” and the phenomenon that this ode is paying homage to. Darkness represents going blind. Borges isn’t completely blind yet, and he describes his liminal state as living “among vague, luminous shapes / that are not darkness yet” (Lines 5-6). The darkness has not completely overtaken his vision, so he can still make out the general forms of things, and he can perceive light. However, the darkness in his vision is growing. He says, “This penumbra is slow and does not pain me” (Line 17). The darkness is not encroaching at a rapid pace. Rather, it is moving slowly and painlessly. The specific diction of penumbra refers to something that is partially illuminated. It is an astronomical term that describes eclipses. An eclipse is a day without night and a night without day; it is liminal or transient. Borges is interested in the blending together of different times. Borges’s positive reaction to the results of being blind makes this poem into an ode: Rather than bemoaning his condition, he indirectly evokes the tradition of the wise poet or bard by depicting his lost vision as giving him access to new understanding of himself and the world.

Time

Time is a symbol with many different meanings in “In Praise of Darkness.” It can symbolize a happy period in one’s life: “the time of our greatest bliss” (Line 2). Time is also a symbol of destruction and darkness. Borges compares time to a Greek philosopher known for blinding himself: “Time has been my Democritus” (Line 16), referencing how Borges began to go blind in his fifties.

Time includes also the days and decades of the past: “days and nights / [...] every inmost moment of yesterday / and all the yesterdays of the world” (Lines 35-38). The singular “yesterday” symbolizes the moments of Borges’s individual past. The plural “yesterdays” refers to historical events that occurred before Borges was born. The final temporal word occurs in the last line of the poem: “Soon” (Line 46). This incorporates the future; thus, the poem spans all of time.

Center

Another important symbol in the poem is the center. One possible antecedent for Borges’s center is the 1919 poem “The Second Coming,” by English poet W. B. Yeats, which contains the famous line, “The center cannot hold” (“The Second Coming,” Line 3). In “In Praise of Darkness,” Borges describes the center as a place of convergence of paths: “the paths converge that have led me / to my secret center” (Lines 31-32). The center is occult, or hidden, in both poems by Yeats and Borges. However, Borges praises this dark center as the revelation of an important mystery. At the end of the poem, “my center” (Line 43) is associated with a mirror and a key, highly symbolic objects that evoke a labyrinth, one of Borges’s most frequently utilized symbols. Reaching this center through the maze of self will allow the speaker to finally learn exactly who he is.

Centers are also associated with the concept of panopticon, a system in which an individual positioned in the middle can see every other point in the system, often without being seen. Borges’s symbolic center is a reversed panopticon, where he has identified his true nature, but is losing the ability to see anything. His short story, “The Aleph,” also features such a system.