“It is like an oracle or a guide through the liminal, transitional realm, and therefore perhaps becoming even more valuable the more we slide into inevitable transition times.” This from a participant in one of the various forums and pages I subscribe to. They’re describing a possible role for art (and hence the artist) in a time of massive social change – a kind of D.I.Y. psychopomp, guiding the world-soul into a new and unknown realm.
Whether the guide ends up being Virgil or Beatrice, Charon or Hermes, is another matter. I suspect that, given the particular forum this quote appeared in, that the writer had a vague scenario in mind. It goes something like this: Climate chaos is producing a terrible time of tribulation that will become worse and spread farther, full of suffering, strife, and bad surprises. There will be violence, false prophets, social disorders – but also adaptation, resilience, the formation of new communities and adoption of simpler technologies. If we can pass through these awful dark ages, we (well, future we’s) will emerge into the bright light of a new day, characterized by ecological wisdom learned through hard experience. I like that story. And I’d be happy to serve as its psychopomp. I even like the fact that people are in fact telling that very story. Perhaps the European “Dark Ages” are behind this idea – that is, the period between the fall of the western Roman Empire and the stabilization of the feudal order (so, say, 500-1000 C.E.). Historians prefer the term “early Middle Ages” these days, though that has its problems, too, and it’s so much less dramatic. There were, of course, lots of “dark ages” and “warring states periods” before that, all over the world; but it’s a classic. During that era, seems like what poetry was being produced was religious in nature (nothing like the breakdown of social order and invasion of barbarian hordes to make you think about matters of ultimate concern). The visual arts (including architecture) produced much more impressive stuff, much earlier – it was much better at displaying the wealth and power of kings and warlords while also ensuring their entree into heaven. Be that as it may, the glory days of ancient literature were o’er, and it would be a long time before the Chanson de Roland or Canterbury Tales. Maybe the Beowulf poet was a psychopomp of the Dark Ages, and the fight against a monster in the ocean depths a kind of dream-dive into the waters of transformation. But history complicates that narrative pretty quickly. The psychopomp is, of course, the guide of souls to the underworld (or upperworld, or wherever you want to locate the realm of the dead). While I don’t think human extinction is coming anytime soon, it’s already coming for a lot of individuals and communities, due to climate crisis. So in that sense, the poet could be a literal psychopomp.
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June 2021
Kristin Prevallet Author/Editor
I'm a writer & teacher in Lawrence, Kansas who actually believes the scientists. I wrote a book of poems called Of Some Sky that seems to have something to do with all this. |