Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

Robert Penn Warren’s "Original Sin: A Short Story" is a haunting exploration of guilt, memory, and the inescapable nature of one’s past. The poem reads like a stream of consciousness, where the speaker confronts an unsettling figure that repeatedly returns throughout their life. This figure—described at times as a nightmare, at times as a familiar presence—represents an unresolved aspect of the speaker’s psyche, perhaps connected to guilt, trauma, or the burden of inherited sin. The poem delves deeply into the idea that certain memories or burdens persist no matter how far one travels or how much one attempts to escape them.

The opening lines immediately introduce the figure of the "nightmare" that stumbles past the speaker’s door. It is described with grotesque imagery—its "great head rattling like a gourd" and "locks like seaweed" clinging to the "stinking stone." This disturbing description sets the tone for the rest of the poem, emphasizing the nightmare’s grotesque and persistent nature. The nightmare is not a fleeting dream but something tangible, lurking, and familiar. It "fumble[s] your door before it whimpers and is gone," much like an old hound that used to "snuffle your door and moan." The comparison to an old hound evokes a sense of familiarity, as if this haunting presence has been with the speaker for a long time, always returning to remind them of something they cannot quite escape.

The speaker recalls that they "thought you had lost it when you left Omaha," suggesting that this haunting figure is tied to their past, particularly to their grandfather, who is depicted with a "wen on his forehead" that he would habitually finger. This "wen" is described as glinting "like rough garnet or the rich old brain bulging through," further emphasizing the grotesque and unsettling imagery. The grandfather becomes a symbol of something inherited—perhaps a familial or generational burden, something that the speaker thought they could leave behind when they moved away. Yet, even after leaving Omaha, the nightmare resurfaces, appearing again in Harvard Yard, under the historic steeple’s midnight toll. The speaker’s encounter with the nightmare in this new setting suggests that it is not geographically bound; it follows them wherever they go.

As the poem progresses, the speaker reflects on how they have encountered this presence in various stages of their life. Initially, they were "almost kindly" to it in their homesickness, treating it with a certain sympathy or understanding. But over time, as the speaker grows and "outlived all your homesickness," the nightmare continues to appear in "many another distempered latitude." The phrase "nothing is lost, ever lost" signals the speaker’s realization that this figure, this embodiment of guilt or unresolved emotion, cannot be left behind or forgotten. The repetition of the nightmare’s presence reinforces the idea that certain aspects of the past remain with us, no matter how much we try to move on.

Warren uses powerful imagery to emphasize the nightmare’s insidious nature, noting that it "never came in the quantum glare of sun / To shame you before your friends," suggesting that the nightmare is a deeply private affliction, something that does not intrude upon the speaker’s public life or identity. Instead, it is a personal burden, something that lurks in the shadows and is felt most intensely in moments of solitude. The nightmare stands with "lips askew" and "shook its great head sadly like the abstract Jew," invoking the image of the wandering, displaced figure, further emphasizing the theme of exile and estrangement.

The nightmare is also described as absent from moments of beauty or terror in the speaker’s life, such as the "lyric arsenical meadows" or "orchard anguish," which suggests that the nightmare is not tied to external events or specific moments of fear or joy. Instead, it exists on a different plane, outside of the speaker’s "classic prudence" or philosophical musings. It is a constant, unshakable presence, not linked to specific emotions or experiences but always hovering in the background.

The poem’s final stanzas highlight the persistence of this figure despite the speaker’s attempts to distance themselves from it. The speaker reflects on how they have "moved often and rarely left an address," trying to outrun this presence, but it continues to appear. The nightmare is likened to "a mother who rises at night to seek a childhood picture," a deeply human, almost tender image, but also one tinged with sorrow and regret. The nightmare is not a violent force; rather, it is a quiet, persistent reminder of something unresolved, much like a mother searching for a lost memory. In the final image, the nightmare stands "like an old horse cold in the pasture," evoking a sense of weariness, age, and the inevitability of its presence.

Throughout "Original Sin: A Short Story," Warren explores the idea that certain aspects of our past, particularly those connected to guilt or trauma, remain with us despite our best efforts to leave them behind. The poem suggests that these unresolved elements are not always overtly disruptive but instead exist as a constant, lurking presence that shapes our internal landscape. The figure of the nightmare serves as a symbol for this unshakable burden, something that cannot be forgotten or buried, no matter how far the speaker travels or how much they try to reinvent themselves.

The title of the poem, "Original Sin," reinforces this theme, suggesting that the nightmare may represent not just personal guilt but a more universal human condition—a sense of inherent fallibility or wrongdoing that is passed down through generations. The speaker’s repeated encounters with the nightmare suggest that they are grappling with something larger than themselves, something that cannot be resolved through simple acts of forgetting or moving away. In the end, the nightmare remains, standing quietly in the background, a reminder of the inescapable past.

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