How to read The Visitor - Understanding the Poetic Parables II

Five more days until the official launch of The Visitor.  A few pre-sales have been completed and a consignment deal with a local bookstore will be signed tomorrow.

The Visitor is not just a Love story; it is a story about Love.

The Visitor is a simple story.  A Love Story.  A story about the visitor who is leaving behind his friends, his family and his Beloved.  But it is more than that; it is a Story about Love.

From the visitors last moments of life he has clarity.  That in itself provides a certain peace as his life had been quite conflicted.  However, the reader will not have the insights to his conflicts yet, as those days of angst are described in the prequels to The Visitor (volumes 2 through 7 of the Corvus Chronicles).

The absence of understanding the visitors previous periods of angst may actually leave the reader conflicted.  The Love story part of The Visitor is easily understood.  It's pretty simple.  90 pages.  Two people meet, they "fall in Love", one of them dies; and their is some pain in the parting.  However, it is the story about Love which may tend to trip the reader up.

While the read is short, it is not easy.  It is like a river that flows smooth in some sections, then fast in others, and in other sections seems like it is churning over rocky white water passes that are hard to navigate.

The reader is warned that the novel is hard to navigate by the author in the introduction:

Notably, The Visitor is written from the perspective of a third-party narrative trying to relay through poetic parables a common story about Love and life on the eve of death. It is hoped that each reader will find the message unique to themselves and their own situation.
 

Each stanza is purposefully intended to be able to stand independently while remaining connected and instrumental to one central message. This style is meant to echo how each of us stands alone, yet we are all connected. The discordant rhymes and rhythm symbolize the
unique speech and tempo that exists within us in an attempt to slow down the reader so that they may reflect on a message which may appear unnatural at first reading.

The narrator also warns the reader that the poetic parables of the visitor can be distracting;

An irregular cadence and natural rhythm graced his voice. It was a poetry void of predictable rhythm and strained at times to rhyme. His voice moved discordantly, straining on unexpected syllables, making it hard to ignore, like the flaws in logic or the stain on a favourite garment. To those with too critical an ear, it was easy to miss the point and be diverted from the message.

While the explanation of the author and warning of the narrator may help provide some foreshadowing that the words ahead may be challenging...taken together the real reason the 90 pages may trip the reader up can be understood.

The author indicates that the message may appear unnatural at first reading and may slow the reader down so they may reflect on a message.  This message is what is usually hidden.  The narrator warns it can be distracting for those with too critical ear and again divert the reader from the message.

So, what is the message both the author and the narrator are alluding too?

It is a message found within the entire book.  Both in the author's words, the narrators words and the visitors poetic parables.  There is an underlying story; and that story is not the Love story; it is the story of Love.

The are clues throughout the novel which can help direct the reader towards understanding the deeper story (interpretation of the message) such as;

• when a "was" reads as an "as" to symbolize the concept of a denial of permanent time by eroding a passive particle by simply dropping an expected letter (w)
• when a word is replaces by a synonym, such as "peaces for pieces" or "error for air"
• when a different language is used for one word, such as amour or sans pax 
• When a word is capitalized as a proper noun (such as Love) rather than an adjective (love)
• When a rhyme scheme keeps being thrown of count; sometimes to the point of a line being just one word; (such as Living)

These are all examples of when "the message" is something rather than what you might read on first glance.  Typically, but not always, these are in the poetic parables.  The parable is the story within the story...or if you like, the story of Love within the Love story.  (see June 19th blog for understanding of what a poetic parable is).

When you trip on elements such as those listed above.  Slow down. Stop reading with your eyes/mind and read with your heart.  Read it within the context of the whole story.

There are other elements within The Visitor which are a little harder to uncover.  There are actual cryptic passages which spell out foreshadowing of other novels within the Corvus Chronicles which include even the spelling of actual names (cryptically).  But those are elements for another day.

Until next time,

Journey in Love

Michael Paul

Truth and Honesty - Stanza VII

When you claim “Love” in describing possessions
You diminish the meaning of your word
So when you say, “I Love” it may lead to questions
And your true passion may never be heard.

In Stanza VII on the poetic parable on Truth and Honesty, the visitor describes the conflict between the sacred and the mundane.  However, it is not just the dualistic conflict which is presented, but also the confusion which is created when blurring the lines between sacred and mundane.

Truth and Honesty - Stanza VII - Line I : When you claim “Love” in describing possessions

While the words of the stanza may seem a bit confusing on first read, the moment the reader recognizes what the visitor is saying, the message becomes instantly clear.  Although the poetic parable on Truth and Honesty doe not sure up until exactly mid-way through the novel, the visitor's views on this matter are presented early (page 3) where the narrator describes from a third party perspective how the visitor reacted to people using the term "Love" casually.

The word PASSION comes from the Latin passionem which really means "suffering, enduring"

Saying he may have been “offended” by people who prayed with hope, as if tossing coins in a fountain during difficult times, is probably a bit unfair. I am not sure he would have been “offended”, but he did struggle with people habitually turning the sacred into the mundane.
You would see a flash in his eyes when people used terms like “Love” to describe their favourite meal.

To him the word “Love” had been misused so often it was now corrupted beyond any practical use. To the Visitor, Love was a word reserved for the sacred, such as the spirit of another person - not for chocolate or wine.
 

It is worthwhile to note in this line the idea of someone being able to "claim" Love.  This means that Love can be viewed as a personal declaration (you claim).  Here in lies part of the problem.  Claiming something does not make it necessarily true - and that is why this poetic parable falls under the category of Truth and Honesty. 

Truth and Honesty - Stanza VII - Line II : You diminish the meaning of your word

The next point worth noting is the idea of using the declaration of "Love" in describing possessions (as presented in Stanza I).  As already outlined in previous blogs; the visitor is clear that everything from the earth remains with the earth.  So here is the dualistic conflict regarding Love which we find ever present in the visitor's words.  How do you claim something which is mundane (possessions) as sacred (claiming Love).

Can you factually and actually Love something material?  Or is Love something beyond the material realm.  That is the point of the visitor.  People are blurring the lines between sacred and mundane.  You can Love the spirit of another person, but is that same emotion present in your like for coffee or chocolate?  If you use the same word for both, you are diminishing the use of the word itself.

If I tell my Beloved, "I Love you", but also tell her; "I Love the Edmonton Oilers hockey club"...what is the message?  Do I really have the same emotional, spiritual connection to my wife as I do to my favourite sports team?  

The important thing to note on this line is the fact that by misusing the word Love you don't really diminish Love.  What you do is diminish the meaning of your word.  You nor I have the power to diminish what is sacred; but we do have the ability to diminish ourselves.  

Truth and Honesty - Stanza VII - Line III : So when you say, “I Love” it may lead to questions

This line follows closely the two previous lines.  If you toss around the word Love for things that are mundane, and you diminish the meaning of your word, than it may lead to questions.  Too often people use words like "Love" to get something they want, or to avoid unpleasant situations.  The word Love has weight.  It should not be used lightly.  It has become habitual how people toss the term "Love" around now to the point it is no longer recognized as a word best reserved for what is really important.  

If there is one central element in The Visitor it is around the concept of Love.  It is why the author uses the phrase, "Journey In Love".  It is why the word "Love" is always capitalized.  It is why the word Love is used 102 times in 91 pages.  Yet; the visitor cautions against over using the word.  So what this tells us is that the visitor's message is a message about Love.

The fact that the visitor sees Love as an acceptable response for all of life's issues is brought to the readers attention in many different ways:

Pg 7:  While he did not know this at the time, saying yes to Love would save him, even though accepting the gift would almost destroy him.

Pg 25: So far, the crowd had only asked the Visitor about the base human needs of food, clothing, shelter, and the need to work to meet such needs. However, if they had listened carefully they would not have failed to observe that the response was often about Love and compassion, with a constant consistent message that they already held the answers to their questions within themselves.

Pg 27: While his answers acknowledged the needs of the crowd, the discourse was slowly moving into areas of discomfort. From the first exchange, which was almost a “mocking” of his message of Love, he had slowly disarmed the resistance of the crowd. The air was now
heavy with the expectation of words we wanted to hear, but we could not voice.

Truth and Honesty - Stanza VII - Line IV : And your true passion may never be heard.

Here the visitor shares the cost of lightly using the term "Love".  If you throw the word around loosely; in describing both the sacred and the mundane, then how will anyone ever be able to hear you when you are speaking from your spirit.  How will you actually make a point in being able to share your true "passion" apart from things that you really just like or enjoy?  

The use of the word "passion" is also purposeful.  As already shared in previous blogs, it is  the intentional use of certain words that sometimes break the rhythm or rhyme, or seem out of place (different language, font etc.,) that give clues to the deeper parable.

Most people think of passion in the romantic sense.  It is used interchangeable to describe an intense desire.  However, the word itself comes from the Latin passionem which really means "suffering, enduring". The word itself as used actually depicts something different than a longing, but rather a "suffering, enduring".  In Christianity "the Passion" is the final days of Jesus leading up to his crucifixion.  

This imagery used by the Visitor again is repeated and consistent in the poetic parable on Freedom where the image of the crucifixion is used to explain the cost of Freedom:

Even at costs that run dearly,
Like a cross / cross your back / on your knees
Then you may finally see clearly.
Then you may finally be free.

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So the parable within Stanza VII is not just a story about being careful with your words so that you are not misunderstood...but paints a picture of taking care not to paint the mundane as sacred.  To understand the importance of the words you use, and the impact they have on you. Used properly, the same term should not really be used to describe how much I enjoy a cold beer on a hot summer day and the suffering enduring passion of someone who gives all for others.

Until next time, Journey in Love: Michael Paul

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When you claim “Love” in describing possessions
You diminish the meaning of your word
So when you say, “I Love” it may lead to questions
And your true passion may never be heard.