The angel, Appollyon

XXVII.

And just as far as ever from the end!
Nought in the distance but the evening, nought
To point my footstep further! At the thought,
great black bird, Apollyon's bosom-friend,
Sailed past, nor beat his wide wing dragon-penned
That brushed my cap--perchance the guide I sought.
-Robert Browning

I saw this stanza from Robert Browning's Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came and immediately thought of the bird in T.S. Eliot's Four Quartets. This didn't strike me as too odd. In literature birds are seen as guides, usually to other worlds. Here the character Roland is taken from a dismal land he calls brut to the end of the quest, the dark tower. He sees no end to his journey until he looks at the bird and then, all of the sudden, the tower is right in front of him. The bird acts as Roland's guide to the tower, a tower he has searched for his whole life. I would like to think that the bird was necessary because the tower lives in a world of its own, a world in which human beings can't get to. It is also noted that the bird is black. We can assume, as the reader, that he is describing a raven (perhaps). This assumption takes us to another metaphor. Ravens usually represent death.

Browning mentions in the fourth line the angel Apollyon. Apollyon in the Bible is named to be a destroyer. Browning compares all things leading to the tower as destroyers or destroyed themselves. These descriptors all lead up to what the tower actually represents, death. Because the tower itself is dead and destroyed, why would anything flock to it that isn't also holding the same fate? It's interesting to ask this question, it shows you that Roland himself is destroyed. He, like the bird, is "Apollyon's bosom-friend." This thought leads us to understand why Roland has now found the tower, right in front of him, after all these years. It could be that his destruction allowed him to enter the world of the tower.

The name Apollyon, can also be translated in Hebrew as Abaddon, which means the angel of the bottomless pit. If you replace the line in the poem to the Hebrew definition, it reads slightly different. Seeing the tower as a bottomless pit shows it as Hell. Roland travels his whole life just to end up in Hell.

While going over my notes, I also saw that Abaddon sounds a bit like the word abandon...Roland, abandoned? Just a thought.

The Tower

Well, here I am, out of school and finding the urge to blog. I had doubts that this day would come, but, alas, I feel like writing again. I figured I would continue to write in a similar fashion. Any future blogs will mainly be about my current readings, symbolism in those readings, and poems that strike my interest. (What can I say, I do love poetry.) So, the question is, what have I been reading? Since out of school, I have had the luxury of reading whatever I want. It's quite nice. I recently have been involved in a long series of novels by Steven King called The Dark Tower. Yes, for all you high-brow people out there, I am thoroughly enjoying a Steven King novel. This series includes 7 books total and is based off of a few epic tales. King reveals that, for this book, he has been influenced by the poem Child Roland to the Dark Tower Came and Tolken's Lord of the Rings.



I've decided, enough with the summary. Let's move on to the things that interest me. First and fore-most, the tower.



A tower is a very historical and complicated symbol in literature. You have the Christian outlook, where a tower is a fortress. It was a belief that a tower could be built to heaven. There is a belief that. if built high enough, it would put you closer to God.



There is a tower Tarot card. Its meaning is destruction and disruption, an ill omen, or a sudden change.





A tower is also used as a metaphor for an epiphany. It can be seen as a revelation or an eternal answer for its characters.





I have no doubt that King was well aware of the major symbols a tower holds, him and a long list of authors before him. I mentioned earlier his 2 major influences, they both hold the tower as a core symbol in their stories.


Facts:


-King uses the tower as an unattainable landmark, thus the Tower of Babylon.


-The tower has the ultimate power of destruction, it is the center piece that holds all worlds together and it's in danger of crumbling. Here is the Tarot Card.


-And, there is one instance where 3 of the characters receive a small glimpse of the tower and during this time they have a enormous revelation that they must continue their quest or all worlds will fall. This is one of the many instances the tower acts as an epiphany.





Well, I think this is enough for one day.