O god--
all come true, all burst to light!
O light—now let me look my last on you!
I stand revealed at last--
cursed in my birth, cursed in marriage,
cursed in the lives I cut down with these hands. (1306-1310)
This is the exact point in which Oedipus finally figures out the answer to his existence. This is Oedipus' moment of anagnorisis. There is a “burst to light” meaning a burst of truth. Oedipus is clearly disgusted by the truth because he no longer wants to look at this light. Oedipus is very surprised by this “truth”. He really did not expect what Tiresisas said to be accurate. That is why this quote begins with “O god” followed by a pause. In this brief silence, Oedipus is realizing exactly what he has done. The repetition of light serves to show the abundance and how overpowering the light is to Oedipus. He no longer wants to live his life surrounded by the truth. The use of exclamation points and dashes also indicate the intense emotions Oedipus is feeling. The last couple lines are just clarification that Oedipus knows that he has been "cursed". The dramatic irony has been "broken" Oedipus and the audience know the exact same truth.
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| *This is the big moment in Oedipus the King. The moment where everything comes together at once. In my poem, I used Oedipus' point of view because I wanted to visualize and experience what he was going through. If you look at the poem some of the same words from the quote are used in the poem :) Words like burst, light and truth. I put the poem in the center of a sun image because a sun is overbearing just like how truth of Oedipus' lineage is overbearing. |
Hey, I didn't know that you're a poet! This poem is so interesting because it suggests that too much light is blinding, even suffocating. I wonder if "into" could replace "off of" in the first line, though. "Into" works better with "saturating," right? Just a thought. Keep the poems coming!
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