Rousing Arousal
"It is as if ecstasy opens the way to a world that is as distant
from reality as the world of dream is (Dalí 201).
Salvador Dalí "The Phenomenon of Ectasy" (1933)
Points
for Reflection
The Bible: Song of Songs, entire book (chps. 1-8)
- is there a clear, traceable chronological structure that binds together the events of this book? Is it inappropriate to string together the lover's disappearance in 5:6, his being discovered among the lilies (6:2-3), and his wandering about the vines and pomegranates in 5:11-12? Do these feel like "events" in a narrative, or loosely interrelated vignettes?
- should Song of Songs shape the way its readers think about beauty in aspects of human experience besides the sexual?
- does either the man or the woman control the discourse of desire? What similes and metaphors do they each use to describe one another, and what do these comparisons suggest about the nature of their relationship?
- is the woman in this romance as relationally proactive as her male lover?
- what about the woman's appearance earns the stares of her female peers?
- do we fault the male lover for telling his beloved "there is no flaw in you" (4:7), for claiming that she is physically perfect?
- why does the man compare his lover to a "garden locked up" and "a spring enclosed" (4.12), and what is his beloved's response to these metaphors?
- assuming that only one male lover is present in this poem (some scholars suggest two), does the realization that the male lover has access to sixty queens, eighty concubines, and "virgins beyond number" (6:8) disrupt the romantic atmosphere of this poem?
- do the sexual double entendres in this poem seem inappropriate for a book of The Bible?
- in 1 Peter 3:1-6 (located in the New Testament), Peter discourages Christian women from wearing jewelry, arguing that inner beauty of character should radiate outwards, making such artificial adornments unnecessary. What is this poem's attitude towards jewelry?
- why might the poet identify such seemingly inconsequential details as the type of woods out of which the lovers' house is made (1:17), and the season in which these events occur (2:11-13)?
- do these lovers extol one another's beauty, in part, by comparing their beloved's appearance to that of others of the same sex?
- why might the female narrator repeatedly warn her friends, "Do not arouse or awaken love until it so desires" (2:7, 3:5, 8:4), and what does she mean by these words?
- why does the man call his beloved “sister” (5:1, etc.) and why does the woman briefly wish her lover were "like a brother, who was nursed at my mother's breasts" (8:1)?
- why do these lovers, in the midst of their verbal lovemaking, keep on mentioning their parents?
- which metaphors and similes used to describe male and female beauty seem most effective? Could any of them be used today too?
The Bather (1928)
Salvador Dali
Dr. Paul Marchbanks
pmarchba@calpoly.edu
