From Blank to Blank - (761)

“From Blank to Blank -” depicts the boundless sentiment of the speaker’s journey filled with
isolation and desolation. The allusion to the Greek myth of Theseus capturing the Minotaur
within an inescapable maze known as the labyrinth, mirrors the speaker’s perception of their
own confinement. The speaker perceives themselves constrained within an unfathomable
labyrinth, an extended metaphor for the ordeals of life - desolation, desertion, despair,
embodying a profound emptiness. In contrast to Theseus, the speaker remains “Threadless”,
incapable of navigating an exit. The speaker draws a parallel between themself and the
Minotaur – imprisoned and isolated, required to untangle depths and intricacies to reveal
profound insight and wisdom that they view as unattainable, all the while maintaining an
“indifferent” stance toward the outcome of their predicament, whether it be “To stop – to
perish- or advance”. The constant caesuras, yielding frequent pauses, mimics the speaker’s
inability to form words, influenced greatly by their mental and emotional burdens that
render speaking a strenuous task – if life lacks purpose, why bother to speak? The two
stanzas are divided into quintains and they adhere to a modified hymn-like meter of
alternating iambic tetrameter and trimeter. The initial tetrameter line is divided in half,
accentuating the notion of “Blank”, underscoring the metaphorical and physical sense of
emptiness. The absence of a rhyme scheme fosters the disorientation, relatable to the
speaker’s disarray while navigating the maze. The oxymoron of it being “lighter - to be Blind”
serves as a symbolic representation of the speaker’s transition into insignificance and
surrendering to the encompassing hopelessness. The caesura that terminates the poem
establishes an open-ended conclusion, conveys the perpetual exploration of the maze - a
submission into infinity.