The Dream of Gerontius (poem)

The Dream of Gerontius is a poem written by John Henry Newman (February 21, 1801 – August 11, 1890) consisting of the prayer of a dying man, and angelic and demonic responses. The poem, written after Newman's switch from being a priest in the Church of England to Roman Catholicism, explores his new Catholic-held beliefs of the journey from death through Purgatory. The poem follows the main character as he nears death and then reawakens as a soul, preparing for judgment, following on of the most important event any human can experience: death.

Newman said that the poem "was written by accident – and it was published by accident." He wrote it up in fair copy from fifty-two scraps of paper between 17 January and 7 February 1865 and published it in May and June of the same year, in two parts in the Jesuit periodical The Month. The poem inspired a choral work of the same name by Edward Elgar in 1900.

The poem was largely inspired by the Divine Comedy of Dante Alighieri, a great allegorical depiction of Dante's travels through the realms of the dead.

Structure

The poem is divided into seven individual "phases", and is Newman's longest written poem. The seven phases are: 1.Gerontius, 2. Sould of Gerontius, 3. Soul, 4. Soul, 5. no title, 6. Angel, 7. Angel.

Plot Summary

This poem is divided up into seven phases

First Phase

Gerontius is a dying man, who on his death bed in his final moments prays to Jesus and Mary for protection. Gerontius isn’t confident with where he’s going in the afterlife and acknowledges he could be going to hell. The Priest’s assistants pray to God, listing all the figures from the Bible who were provided with similar passages into Heaven. The Priests gives one last prayer for him as Gerontius passes away.

Second Phase

Gerontius’s soul awakens in his deceased body, feeling “refreshed.” Now awake as just a soul he feels free of time and has a new sense of freedom. Gerontius cannot tell if he’s alive or dead but assumes he’s not dead because he feels nothing out of place. He believes he could get up if only he willed it but finds that “I cannot stir a hand or foot.” All of this begins to disorient him and he begins to feel as if he’s floating through space, or possibly that space is floating from away him. An angel appears just as Gerontius begins to lose his mind. The angel tells Gerontius that the angel has been watching over him since birth and now the work is done. The angel goes onto explain that throughout Gerontius’ life, the angel has hung around to keep a balance of truth and sin, to never let Gerontius fall too far down the wrong way. Gerontius finally accepts after talking to an angel that he is dead.

Third Phase

Gerontius’ soul attempts to engage in “conscious communion” with the Angel, to which the angel replies that he cannot grant him this “wish”. The soul then states that he shall speak, and proceeds to ask what is keeping him from being with God. The Angel states that Gerontius has barely left the physical realm behind, and goes on to explain that time and other such things are merely constructs made by humans, and no longer apply in the afterlife. He also explains that the only thing keeping Gerontius from God is his own thought. Gerontius also asks the Angel why he no longer fears meeting God, and instead, feels a sense of “joy” in their potential encounter. The Angel tells the soul that its sense of joy is a sort of reward given by the divine Judge for forestalling the agony and bitterness of death."

Fourth Phase

The soul of Gerontius and the Angel arrive at “the judgment-court” where demons have assembled. The court is an old region that Satan used to run and used the court to attack people like Job. Satan’s legions now run this area in hopes of “gathering souls for hell.” They overhear the demons talking and laughing about Jesus’ death. The demons mock those afraid of hell for being cowards because they turn to religion not because of love of the Lord but because of fear of the unknown. The Soul of Gerontius asks the Angel why all of his senses still work except sight, “All has been darkness since I left the earth; Shall I remain thus sight-bereft all through my penance-time?” The Angel explains that his soul now exists in a world where he doesn’t need senses but on the day of resurrection he will regain “All thou hast lost, new made and glorified.” As for his sight he will remain blind through purgatory because purgatory “Is fire without its light.” The soul takes this in stride, “I am not worthy e’er to see again/The face of day. ” Despite being blind, Gerontius is told that he will see God for a split second during judgment.

Fifth Phase

The Soul and the Angel move onward into the House of Judgment, passing The First Choir of Angelicals who they overhear singing the praises of God. The Angel explains that buildings in the afterlife are not made of material but made of life, “Holy, blessed and immortal beings/Who hymn their Maker’s praise continually.” The Second and Third Choirs of Angelicals are passed. The Third Choir sings about the impeding fate of Gerontius, singing about the double agony of the body and soul. The Angel tells Gerontius about the beauty of being able to see God. The mere sight of God will fill him with love but also make him sick knowing that he committed sins. The piercing eyes of God will have such an effect that it will hurt to even be in his presence knowing he let God down. The contrast between wanting to keep seeing God and feeling his love versus the shame and disgrace of having to look at the deity he let down is where purgatory really lies. They arrive at the Sacred Stairs of the Presence-Chamber where Angels line the stairs on either side to help guide the way. As the fifth phase ends, the Fourth and Fifth Choirs of Angelicals arrive to sing to the Soul of Gerontius as he prepares to climb the stairs.

Sixth Phase

The Soul of Gerontius hears voice which the Angel explains are the voices of his friends back on Earth who are gathered around his bed. The last person the Soul meets is the Angel of the Agony, an angel who pleads with God to save all who are about to receive judgment. The Soul of Gerontius asks to be taken down below and let him be so that even in the harshest of pains he can be left alone to sing the praises of God.

Seventh Phase

The Angel asks that the “golden prison ope its gates” and allow the Soul of Gerontius into the realm of Purgatory. The Angel asks for them to take care of him until the day he is allowed to leave into heaven at which point the Angel will return to “reclaim it for the courts of light.” The Souls in Purgatory recite their mantra stating that the Lord will come for them and that they will wake up the next morning to find themselves filled with the Lord’s mercy and be allowed admittance into heaven. As the poem comes to an end, the Angel softly drops the Soul of Gerontius, off into Purgatory. The Angel tells him that the Angels who run Purgatory will tend to him and nurse him so he becomes ready to enter Heaven. He offers one last goodbye: “Farewell, but not for ever! brother dear, Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; Swiftly shall pass thy night of trial here, And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.”

Critical Response

“The Dream of Gerontius”, was an immediate success upon its release, owing in part to the Victorian Era’s rising interest in such subjects as death, suicide, and the after-life. Other authors such as Philip James Bailey, or Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe, like Newman, achieved much fame with their writings about the subject of mortality, but, unlike both Goethe and Bailey, Newman took the subject of death, and the soul’s ‘life’ in the realm eternal, one step further. Because “The Dream of Gerontius” deals with the journey of the soul from life to death to Heaven, something not many authors and poets had done up to that point, many people wondered what inspirations Newman was drawing from when he wrote it. Some believed that Newman drew inspiration from an 11th century hymn of St. Peter Damain, “De Die Mortus Rythmus”, when constructing his vision, but there are some who feel that Newman’s inspirations and motives were more selfish. Due to its title, some believed that Newman drew inspiration for the poem from dreams and not from any religious text. Some also felt that the poem itself might not even deal with death at all, but rather be a vision of an old man—maybe even Newman himself—worrying about life after death. Besides these various groups there were also some who viewed “Newman himself as carrying greater religious authority and credibility than any available creed or communion”, and that the “Dream of Gerontius” was a vision of sage wisdom by a Cardinal in the Catholic Church. Whatever Newman’s inspiration, “The Dream of Gerontius” remains one of the pivotal works on death and the soul of the Victorian Era and one of Newman’s most famous works.

References in Other Media

• The Dream of Gerontius, a symphony composed by Edward Elgar, was written as a musical version of the poem.

See also

• The Dream of Gerontius

External links

• Text of The Dream of Gerontius