Classic and Contemporary Poetry: Explained

"Windows" by Stephane Mallarme delves into the complicated interplay between escapism, existential despair, and the search for beauty in a grotesque world. The poem begins with a bleak setting: a dreary hospital filled with "rank fumes" and "banal whiteness." Here, a man, seemingly on his deathbed, is suffocating not just physically but also existentially. The monotony of the curtains and the "tired" crucifix on the wall symbolize the limitations that life has imposed on him, as well as the emotional and spiritual confinement he feels.

Yet, even in this dismal environment, the man finds solace and a momentary escape through the window. The sun touching the stones outside brings back the hues of life to his ashen face. His kiss on the window pane, filled with longing for the "azure," is an attempt to engage with a forgotten sensuality and the vibrancy of life. This scene captures Mallarmé's concept of the Ideal - a transcendent reality more beautiful and intense than the material world. It's as if the dying man, through this simple yet poignant act, manages to recapture a fleeting glimpse of beauty and transcendence that society, with its mundane obligations and moralities, had taken away from him.

Mallarmé then shifts the focus from the dying man to himself, painting a picture of his own discontentment with the "blunt-souled man" who revels in his vulgar desires. Just like the dying man, Mallarmé, too, seeks refuge in "windows," metaphorical and possibly literal, that offer an escape from the sordidness of earthly life. These are not mere architectural features but portals to a different realm, where one can turn away from life's ugliness and revel in an eternal morning gilded by the "Infinite." The poet envisions himself as an "angel," longing for a past heaven "where Beauty flourished."

However, the poet acknowledges that earthly life - "Here-below" - has a way of seeping into even the most hallowed places of escape. The "foul vomit of Stupidity" symbolizes the ugliness of reality that persistently contaminates even his loftiest thoughts and makes him "stop up my nose in face of the azure." The poet grapples with the question of whether it's possible to completely break free, to "shatter the crystal insulted by the monster" and take flight, even if it means falling into an eternal abyss.

The poem is a profound meditation on the human condition, torn between the dualities of the Ideal and the Real, beauty and ugliness, freedom and confinement. Mallarmé wrestles with these contradictions, using the window as a multifaceted symbol of hope, escape, and existential limit. The characters in the poem, whether the dying man or the disillusioned poet, find temporary solace in their respective windows, but they also come face to face with the limitations of such escapism. Therefore, "Windows" offers no easy resolutions but serves as a poignant reflection on the complexities of human longing and the relentless quest for transcendence.

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