Rodin’s Balzac
I’ve been slowly working my way through The Confessions of Aleister Crowley, which is quite a long book, so I’ve been interspersing it with other books and poems. So far, Crowley spends a lot of time emphasizing his brilliance as a poet, going so far as to view himself as superior to Yeats (a fine example of hubris, in my humble opinion). But he did include a sonnet which he said was inspired by Auguste Rodin’s sculpture of Honoré de Balzac, the French writer (see image above). I felt the poem was worth talking about. Here is the text for reference:
Giant, with iron secrecies ennighted,
Cloaked, Balzac stands and sees. Immense disdain,
Egyptian silence, mastery of pain,
Gargantuan laughter, shake or still the ignited
Statue of the Master, vivid. Far, affrighted,
The stunned air shudders on the skin. In vain
The Master of La Comédie Humaine
Shadows the deep-set eyes, genius lighted.Epithalamia, birth songs, epitaphs,
Are written in the mystery of his lips.
Sad wisdom, scornful shame, grand agony
In the coffin folds of the cloak, scarred mountains, lie,
And pity hides i’ th’ heart. Grim knowledge grips
The essential manhood. Balzac stands, and laughs.
Crowley explains that he wrote the poem in support of Rodin, who was being harshly criticized regarding the sculpture.
The sculpture was not received well by the critics; Rodin took the negativity as a personal attack. Many disliked the grotesque stature of the figure while others criticized the work to be very similar to that of the Italian impressionist Medardo Rosso. As well, reports surfaced before the unveiling of the sculpture regarding anticipated dismay over the final outcome of the artwork. The Société des Gens de Lettres decided to disregard the commission to Rodin and not accept the sculpture.
(Source: Wikipedia)
Personally, I love when artists find inspiration from artistic works of different mediums. So here we have a poem, written about a sculpture, which was inspired by the works of a novelist. To me, this exemplifies how all artistic forms are connected, that they all seek to elevate the human consciousness to loftier planes.
As I look at Rodin’s sculpture and consider Crowley’s words, I get the sense that Crowley’s admiration of this work stems from the cloak of mystery that seems to enshroud Balzac. From what I gather about Crowley, he would likely have related to the feeling of being cloaked, particularly from the ritualistic occult perspective. And even artistically. As I read more of his writings, I get the sense that he was attempting to create this myth about himself, wrapping himself in a woven tale to give him a mystique as a prophet and occultist.
While I don’t think that Crowley is as great of a poet as he claims he was, it is interesting to read his poems nonetheless, because if nothing else, poems provide a window into the writer’s psyche.
Stuff Jeff Reads 
Crowley is one interesting fella by the sounds of it. I wonder if people social distanced themselves on purpose back than from this guy. lol
Hey Deke. Well, if one believes what he writes, he had quite an interesting social circle of thinkers and such. I did do some side research on Boleskine, which is his house on Loch Ness that Jimmy Page bought. Some very strange stuff there. Thanks for commenting. Cheers.
Page dabbled in alot of things man. lol
Jeff, this link I’m sending has nothing to do with Crowley but I think u will dig it.
Cheers,
https://wordpress.com/read/blogs/135880418/posts/14583
Cool song and post, but their first hit? Umm, what about “Truckin” or “Sugar Magnolia” or “Casey Jones.” Heck, I’d even argue that “Shakedown Street” falls into the hit category. LOL – Anyway, thanks for sharing the post. I guess I’ll have to spin some Good Ol Grateful Dead now 😉
i think Max was refering to a mainstream hit as to be honest I had heard the name Greatful Dead but never actually heard the Dead til Touch of Grey..
Yeah, ok. I guess growing up in NY and FL I used to hear them on the radio a lot. Like I said, enjoyed the post. Thanks
All good Brother!