Analysis of COVID-19 Archetypal Imagery
Karl Constantine FOLKES 1935 (Portland)
In worldwide vogue a social mask
Unmasking innate Malthusian dispositions
Fear of “The Other” repressed…
Alas, now boldly superimposed
A human masquerade
Projected and personified
Sanitized in public as “The New Norm”
Received as “Social Distancing “
Hidden fears now exposed
Brought to the fore
E Pluribus Unum unearthed
As yet a dream delayed , deferred
COVID’s airborne shadow challenging us
Yet bearing fateful promises
Of healing light…
Compensation for humanity’s illnesses
Delivered post-haste
By cavernous archetypal bat
Chthonic message from the underworld:
“Search within and not without
Therein shall ye find the antidote
Behold, within the putrid poison of distemper
That wounds the body and each member
Within where vile injustice haunts no more
There within perchance you’ll find the cure.”
| Scheme | ABCDEFGHDIJKLMNOPQRSTUUIV |
|---|---|
| Poetic Form | |
| Metre | 01110101 1011010 1101001 01110001 01001 0100010 100101011 01110100 101101 1101 11001001 11010101 1111001 11010100 1101 01011100 01011 11001101 1101010 1010101 01111010 0101010101010 110100110 0111010111 101011101 |
| Closest metre | Iambic tetrameter |
| Characters | 814 |
| Words | 122 |
| Sentences | 2 |
| Stanzas | 1 |
| Stanza Lengths | 25 |
| Lines Amount | 25 |
| Letters per line (avg) | 27 |
| Words per line (avg) | 5 |
| Letters per stanza (avg) | 664 |
| Words per stanza (avg) | 122 |
About this poem
While this poem may be interpreted in many ways, it reflects on the pandemic of COVID-19 as pointing in archetypal fashion to a sense of universal urgency of humanity to mend its ways socially, ecologically, economically, politically, culturally and spiritually and, in particular, to look beyond the longstanding divisions of “self” and “other;” and to acknowledge the common bond that unites all of us prospectively as Homo Sapiens with hearts that rule the mind.
Written on July 06, 2020
Submitted by karlcfolkes on September 17, 2021
Modified on March 05, 2023
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"COVID-19 Archetypal Imagery" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 10 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/109843/covid-19-archetypal-imagery>.
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