A dome of glistening crystal,
Surrounded by creeping vines and wild poisonous flowres
His favourite garden
"I do so love the forsaken ones." His icy smile freezes even the greatest of flames
His abode lies in the deepest layer of hell
Adorned by damned fire and a river of blood
Floating chunks of sinners' flesh, torn apart and strewn for his pleasure
When he walks through his pleasured "garden" under Hell's sky of dense, putrid, smoke.
He laughs, seeng the wild beasts engage in battle and eat their enimies' entrails.
When the sinners are sent to him, he burns their tongues and rips out their lungs.
Then, he throws them in the river, to feed the mutated shaks he pets.
Pain amuses him and Torture entertains him.
He grins, hearing the screams of devilish souls
That are trapped in the web of his flesh eating spiders.
His insane amusement is stopped by only a voice
A voice, as sweet as the wind chimes blown by the fragnant breeze.
"Master!" the voice sings out "Master Asmodeus."
The one voice that reaches the tainted heart of the most cruel excecutioner of Hell.
Asmodeus, one of the seven satans, the devil of wrath.
His madness stops, only by hearing the voice of Graciela, hia favourite attendant.
She was a daughter of the earth, but he had asked her from her father.
his payment for forgiving the old man's sins, even when sent to hell.
"I will not subject you to eternal pain." the demon had said "only if your daughter is mine to have."
And so she was, always by his side.
So beautiful, so perfect, she seems to his filthy heart.
And why should it not?
Graciela, a woman from the mortal realm was the one object of his adoration for his distorted being.
Asmodeus loved his servant, a servant who had not hated him even when he had trapped her in hellish realms.
Away from the Heaven she deserved to enjoy.
"Why do you not hate me?" he wonders "Why do you smile and sing for me even when i have made you a slave?"
He was insanely in love, a thing unheard of in Hell.
And yet, she was untouchable, she was too Pure
Even in the dark pits of hell.
"Is this the way God punishes me?" Asmodeus asks. "giving me a love that is unattainable? if she hears of my love, she will despise and i shall be alone for an eternity."
So he remains silent, and writhes in the agony of his twisted love.
The Lord of Wrath bestows pain, so that he may forget his own suffering in the bloodbath.
Impossible it is , he knows, a futile attempt.
And thus he forever dwells in the prescence of his greatest insanity; one in the form of an innocent mortal.
An insanity even the lord of devils cannot appease.
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ASMODEUS
1 A dome of glistening crystal,
Surrounded by creeping vines and wild poisonous flowres
His favourite garden
"I do so love the forsaken ones." His icy smile freezes even the greatest of flames
5 His abode lies in the deepest layer of hell
Adorned by damned fire and a river of blood
Floating chunks of sinners' flesh, torn apart and strewn for his pleasure
When he walks through his pleasured "garden" under Hell's sky of dense, putrid, smoke.
He laughs, see(i)ng the wild beasts engage in battle and eat their enimies' entrails.
10 When the sinners are sent to him, he burns their tongues and rips out their lungs.
Then, he throws them in the river, to feed the mutated shaks(?sharks?) he pets.
Pain amuses him and Torture entertains him.
He grins, hearing the screams of devilish souls
14 That are trapped in the web of his flesh eating spiders.
The poem opens with the clear narration of a resort garden ; “a pleasure dome”, one with exotic atmosphere. The description for the first three and a half lines possesses a misleading feel of gentle beauty and wonder, yet it is next revealed by the speech of the main character of the poem; revealed later to be Asmodeus himself, that this place is not beautiful under orthodox standards. This place is Hell, seen in this poem as a land of fire, flowing blood and dismembered flesh. Torture and suffering abounds here for the souls of the damned for the pleasure of daemonic lords, Asmodeus being one.
*My first problem here is, “Adorned by damned fire…”. What is that would make fire “damned”? I believe that the words “damned” and “fire” have very appropriate connotations with the underworld, and yet the phrase “damned fire” does not do much for my imagination. What is that makes this fire damned? Is it billowing with the smoke of burning flesh? Is it blackened by unwholesome rituals? My point here is that I feel that with descriptions like that, the words have to have clearer meaning, giving the reader an explicit idea of what they are seeing. In this case, the word ‘damned’, while appropriate in this setting, does not enhance the image of ‘fire.’
I found the description in the opening of this poem to be good. The image of what Hell’s sky was delivered clearly and distinct. By describing the imagery of “dense, putrid, smoke…”, the reader has a sense of atmosphere and a better understanding for the setting and mood of the poem. Also, I thought there was a good play on past and present tense in Lines 7 and 8, when the narrator describes, “Floating chunks of sinners' flesh, torn apart and strewn for his pleasure…” and then, “When he walks through his pleasured "garden"‘, for me that use of grammatical manipulation adds to the dark sensation of the poem. The garden’s beauty would seem to be enhanced by the viscous deaths and scattered remnants of the damned.
By showing the brutal punishments that Asmodeus delivers to the sinner’s( Line 10), the reader then is introduced to his role in Hell. The earlier line, “His icy smile freezes even the greatest of flames”, then possesses enhanced clarity through showing the reader the emotional coldness of his personality, allowing him to commit horrific acts uncaring and with pleasure. The graphic description of tortures allows the reader to be acquainted with Asmodeus, giving him character through his actions.
15 His insane amusement is stopped by only a voice
A voice, as sweet as the wind chimes blown by the frag(r)ant breeze.
"Master!" the voice sings out "Master Asmodeus."
The one voice that reaches the tainted heart of the most cruel ex(ec)utioner of Hell.
19 Asmodeus, one of the seven satans, the devil of wrath.
Suddenly, the stream of narration moves from the violent to display, to a voice interrupting Asmodeus. This voice is given an elegant description (See Line 16) which sharply contrasts with the previous descriptions in the poem. The images of dismembered corpses, flowing blood and cruel monster had dominated the poems setting until now. This is important because it shifts the readers attention away from what previously was being given full attention by the narrator, it is a turning point in the poem.
By Line 17 we learn that Asmodeus is the ‘Master’ who has been executing all the previous tortures. It is then stated that the graceful voice is the only thing that may penetrate the numb and seemingly sadistic exterior of Asmodeus. Furthermore, the rank and status of Asmodeus is expressed as “one of the seven satans, the devil of wrath.” This information, combined with the previous gory descriptions would seem to suggest a person incapable of being emotionally moved, and yet this voice is capable of that.
His madness stops, only by hearing the voice of Graciela, hi(s) favourite attendant.
She was a daughter of the earth, but he had asked her from her father.
his payment for forgiving the old man's sins, even when sent to hell.
23 "I will not subject you to eternal pain." the demon had said "only if your daughter is mine to have."
And so she was, always by his side.
So beautiful, so perfect, she seems to his filthy heart.
27 And why should it not?
The voice is then revealed to be a woman named Graciela, who was bartered by her condemned father to save himself from Asmodeus’s wrath in Hell. The narrator then asks why shouldn’t the majesty of Graciela appeal so much to Asmodeus, even when the nature of Asmodeus would suggest otherwise.
Graciela, a woman from the mortal realm was the one object of his adoration for his distorted being.
Asmodeus loved his servant, a servant who had not hated him even when he had trapped her in hellish realms.
Away from the Heaven she deserved to enjoy.
"Why do you not hate me?" he wonders "Why do you smile and sing for me even when I
have made you a slave?"
Asmodeus cares greatly for Graciela, yet is puzzled by her acceptance of her condition. Asmodeus is aware that Graciela deserved to be in Heaven for her virtuous nature but is trapped in Hell due to her father’s selfishness and Asmodeus’s affection. Asmodeus cannot comprehend why she treats him so kindly when he has kept her a prisoner there unjustly.
He was insanely in love, a thing unheard of in Hell.
And yet, she was untouchable, she was too Pure
Even in the dark pits of hell.
"Is this the way God punishes me?" Asmodeus asks. "giving me a love that is unattainable? if she hears of my love, she will despise and i shall be alone for an eternity."
Next the affection of Asmodeus is elevated to that of ‘love’ by the narrator, which is something that does not occur in the dungeons of Hell. However, while she is trapped there by Asmodeus’s deal with her father, she is too virtuous and sinless to be harmed our interacted with in Hell. Asmodeus then considers this irony as divine punishment, realizing that his feelings for her can never be achieved due to his current relationship with her and his fear of rejection.
So he remains silent, and writhes in the agony of his twisted love.
The Lord of Wrath bestows pain, so that he may forget his own suffering in the bloodbath.
Impossible it is , he knows, a futile attempt.
And thus he forever dwells in the presence of his greatest insanity; one in the form of an innocent mortal.
An insanity even the lord of devils cannot appease.
Finally, the narrator conveys that Asmodeus himself suffers greatly due to his unrequited love. He commits acts of torture and violence only to ease his own pain, the narrator says, making Asmodeus into a now pathetic creature as mortal and seemingly human as the souls he enslaves. So that is the final fate of Asmodeus, suffering at his own damnation for never being able to fulfill his love.
Necessarily, I think I enjoyed reading this poem the most so far. It had a very straight forward appeal, telling a story that goes from physical descriptions that later on enhance the emotional themes being discussed.
I felt that the description given in the beginning gave myself a heightened interest in what was transpiring in the poem, I was more aware of the surrounding and could imagine a clearer stage of action. The details put into the tortures and overall setting of Asmodeus’s pleasure garden gave me a concise understanding what was occurring in the story of the poem, and in turn helped in developing the poem’s main character; Asmodeus.
Asmodeus possesses a complex personality in this poem, being at first introduced as irredeemable sadist who then is transformed by the arrival of Graciela as a tragic lover who fears and suffers under his feelings. There is a power to that, because to turn what once seemed a hideous creature into a pathetic wretch is the importance of the “monster” in literature. Classically, the Gothic monsters such as Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula invoke sympathy in that they are misfit creatures in world unable to understand and cope with their nature. In this way too, is the devil Asmodeus made into such a creature. He is tragic in that he is no different than the condemned souls, that he too is suffering for his crimes against heaven under the wrath of God. It is important to remember the mythology surrounding demons, that they themselves were once angels who were punished by God for rebellion.
There were typos which I noted. However, what really I think could make this poem great, because as it stands I view it as good, is that it needs more graphic detail. I felt interested when the narrator discussed this “pleasure dome” of Asmodeus, who reigns in the smoke filled dungeon of Hell torturing the damned for all time. And even more interesting was the host of animals he had at his disposal. I do believe the author had some serious interest in the character of Asmodeus and it shows in this poem, and the juxtaposition of Graciela’s affection and Asmodeus’s sadism gave it poignant meaning.
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