In John Clare’s poem, An Invite to Eternity, he comingles
death with loss of identity in three ways; through a perversion of nature,
dying connections with others, and a light versus darkness dichotomy.
The first stanza establishes an
association with light and life in the line “Where there’s nor life nor light
to see” (7). Both light and life begin with ‘l,’ but to further highlight their
similarity Clare repeats ‘nor’ in front of each of the words. This repetition
blends the meaning of light and life; as such, the poem’s three remaining
stanzas utilize dark imagery to symbolize death. Twice death comes across, for
example, as the “land of shadows” (25), “pass like shadows” (23). This
connection between light and life also furthers Clare’s equating of loss of
identity with death. Shortly after the narrator first pleads to the maid, he
say, “Where the sun forgets the day” (6). Here the sun, the symbol of life,
forgets its key element, the day. In forgetting the day – presumably shrouding
the world in night, the metaphor for death – the sun loses both who it is and
suffers death.
The sun surfaces as the first of
several phenomena in which nature forgets its characteristics. In the second
stanza, “Where stones will turn to flooding streams / where plains will rise
like ocean waves” (9-10). In each of these examples occurs a severe loss of
self – the stone, rather than retaining its hardness, morphs into water. Plains
no longer stay flat, instead twisting into rolling hills. Both of these
examples highlight such a loss of identity that the object no longer conforms
to each the most basic laws of nature. This loss of identity correlates with
death in that the speaker then continues with “Where life will fade like
visioned dreams” (11). This line follows the format of the first two, beginning
with where, using future tense, and finishing with a simile. However, though
this also demonstrates a twist from the expected, it more importantly calls
attention to the slow wilting of life.
Arguably the most significant
equation of loss of identity and death surfaces in the way the narrator
foretells an inability to connect with others. He bemoans the dissolution of
the family unit when he cries, “Where parents live and are forgot / And sisters
live and know us not” (16-17). The significance of this quotes lies in his failure
to recognize his parents. His parents are present and yet he cannot know them,
perhaps because he has lost himself so deeply that those who brought him into
the world have become foreign. Subsequently Clare twists the line, saying that
his sisters do not recognize him either. The poem does not point to the sisters
as possessing the fault; rather, it seems as though the narrator has changed to
the extent that even his family members do not know him.
Ultimately, An Invite to Eternity speaks to how losing our identity leads to
both a dissolution of the essence of who we are as well as a type of death.
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