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Without a shadow of a doubt all REH works have left a profound impression on me. I am sure of it that I found something that I will cherish for the years to come. However the thing that touched my very soul was a poem by Rober E. Howard titled: The Cimmeria
I remember
The dark woods, masking slopes of sombre hills;
The grey clouds' leaden everlasting arch;
The dusky streams that flowed without a sound,
And the lone winds that whispered down the passes.
Vista on vista marching, hills on hills,
Slope beyond slope, each dark with sullen trees,
Our gaunt land lay. So when a man climbed up
A rugged peak and gazed, his shaded eye
Saw but the endless vista - hill on hill,
Slope beyond slope, each hooded like its brothers.
It was a gloomy land that seemed to hold
All winds and clouds and dreams that shun the sun,
With bare boughs rattling in the lonesome winds,
And the dark woodlands brooding over all,
Not even lightened by the rare dim sun
Which made squat shadows out of men; they called it
Cimmeria, land of Darkness and deep Night.
It was so long ago and far away
I have forgot the very name men called me.
The axe and flint-tipped spear are like a dream,
And hunts and wars are shadows. I recall
Only the stillness of that sombre land;
The clouds that piled forever on the hills,
The dimness of the everlasting woods.
Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.
Oh, soul of mine, born out of shadowed hills,
To clouds and winds and ghosts that shun the sun,
How many deaths shall serve to break at last
This heritage which wraps me in the grey
Apparel of ghosts? I search my heart and find
Cimmeria, land of Darkness and the Night.
--REH
Every time I am reading this poem I get different visions about Hyborian age, Cimmeria and the barbaric king himself.
First of all it is pretty obvious that Conan himself is the narrator as he speaks in first person (I remember, I have forgot). There is no direct reference to Conan himself, but the narrator recalls the Cimmeria so he clearly is NOT living there anymore. Since Cimmerians were not really the adventurous, traveling folks (unlike Conan) most likely there wouldn't be any other Cimmerian than Conan to tell us about this land.
Cimmeria is apparently not a word made up by REH, but a clever historical reference (this is evident in my REH's works as he was very fond of history). Cimmerius or Cimmeriī refer to Cimmerians "A fabulous people supposed to have dwelt in caves, between Baiae and Cumae" and "perpetual darkness prevailed among them". Cimmerians are also "any of a mythical people described by Homer as dwelling in a remote realm of mist and gloom". Lastly Cimmeria (and even Stygia!) were mentioned by British poet John Milton:
HENCE loathed Melancholy
Of Cerberus and blackest midnight born,
In Stygian Cave forlorn
'Mongst horrid shapes, and shreiks, and sights unholy.
Find out som uncouth cell,
Where brooding darknes spreads his jealous wings,
And the night-Raven sings;
There, under Ebon shades, and low-brow'd Rocks,
As ragged as thy Locks,
In dark Cimmerian desert ever dwell.
- L'Allegro, John Milton (1608-1674)
So REH's Cimmeria is also "a gloomy land" but with mountainous landscape.
With all the references to the grey clouds, lone winds, winds and clouds and everlasting woods is suggests that Cimmeria, in terms of altitudinal zonation, was on montane level.
It is pretty obvious how such landscape might look like: cold, cloudy, foggy. What's more important is how such harsh living conditions affected the Cimmerian people. Conan hints at this in "Queen of the Black Coast":
"There is no hope here or hereafter in the cult of my people,"
answered Conan. "In this world men struggle and suffer vainly, finding
pleasure only in the bright madness of battle; dying, their souls
enter a gray misty realm of clouds and icy winds, to wander
cheerlessly throughout eternity." - Queen Of The Black Coast, REH.
Conan description of the afterlife is very grim so I suspect that Cimmerian beliefs were a direct result of their environment (living conditions) as REH mentions that the land "made squat shadows out of men"
This feeling of hopelessness was intensified how vast the Cimmeria was "when a man climbed up
A rugged peak and gazed, his shaded eye Saw but the endless vista - hill on hill" so to it's inhabitants this cloudy land was all they knew. It makes sense that they imagined the afterlife to be "pretty much more of same ****".
However what makes me ponder the most are the last paragraphs of the poem where the narrator says: "It was so long ago and far away". Perhaps Conan recalls his homeland as an old ruler of Aquilonia since he also mentions "The axe and flint-tipped spear are like a dream,And hunts and wars are shadows". I would imagine that to the king of the mightiest, most civilized kingdom of the west his first 19 or so years spent in Cimmeria might have been like a dream, or foggy memory.
I find it strange for Conan to mention "I have forgot the very name men called me". It might be because Conan had different name in Cimmeria, or perhaps because in Aquilonia no one would address him in other way than "king". This might as well be a poetic device.
Lastly is the "This heritage which wraps me in the grey". While it might not come across in the stories very well Conan was "a thief, a reaver, a slayer, with gigantic melancholies and gigantic mirth" (The Nemedian Chronicles , REH). It is very easy to find references in the books of Conan making merry (such is the stereotype of Barbadian - he drinks deep) the melancholies are more subtle, yet present:
Conan shook his lion head. “No, Prospero, he’s beyond my reach. A great poet is greater
than any king. His songs are mightier than my scepter; for he has near ripped the heart
from my breast when he chose to sing for me. I shall die and be forgotten, but Rinaldo’s
songs will live for ever - Poenix on the Sword, REH
“He was a man,” said Conan. “I drink to his shade, and to the shade of the dog, who knew no fear.” He quaffed part of the wine, then emptied the rest upon the floor, with a curious heathen gesture, and smashed the goblet. “The heads of ten Picts shall pay for his, and seven heads for the dog, who was a better warrior than many a man.”
And the forester, staring into the moody, smoldering blue eyes, knew the barbaric oath
would be kept. - Beyond the Black River, REH
Again dawn tinged the ocean. A redder glow lit the river-mouth. Conan of Cimmeria
leaned on his great sword upon the white beach, watching the Tigress swinging out on
her last voyage. There was no light in his eyes that contemplated the glassy swells. Out of
the rolling blue wastes all glory and wonder had gone. A fierce revulsion shook him as he
gazed at the green surges that deepened into purple hazes of mystery. (...)
So passed the Queen of the Black Coast, and leaning on his red-stained sword, Conan
stood silently until the red glow had faded far out in the blue hazes and dawn splashed its
rose and gold over the ocean. - Queen of the Black Coast, REH.
In this post I wanted to share with you my interpretation of this poem and I would gladly hear what are your ideas about the symbolism and referenced that REH put into his piece.
References:
http://latinlexicon.org/definition.php?p1=2010188
http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/cimmerian
http://www.englishverse.com/poets/milton_john
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Altitudinal_zonation
