Incubus Melodies And Monuments
Karoline Oum
Incubus' song 'Monuments and Melodies' delves into themes of longing, reflection, and the emotional impact of absence. The lyrics paint a vivid picture of a person grappling with the physical and emotional tremors of missing someone deeply. The opening lines, 'My hands are trembling / And my eyes are on fire,' suggest a state of anxiety and emotional turmoil, while the crumbling house metaphorically represents the disintegration of stability in the absence of a loved one.
The chorus, 'You make me happy / You magnify my better half,' highlights the profound influence the absent person has on the narrator's well-being and self-perception. Despite only having a photograph to hold onto, this image serves as a powerful reminder of the joy and certainty the person brings into their life. This juxtaposition of happiness and longing underscores the bittersweet nature of their current situation.
The lines 'My past is perilous / Each scar I wear sings / Monuments to where I have been / And melodies to where I am going' reflect a deep introspection. The narrator acknowledges their past struggles and the scars that serve as monuments to their experiences. These scars also act as melodies, guiding them towards the future. The song's title, 'Monuments and Melodies,' encapsulates this duality of looking back at past hardships while also finding hope and direction in the memories and lessons learned.
The repeated plea, 'When will I see you again?' and the desire to hear their name spoken by the loved one, emphasize the yearning for physical presence and connection. The still-life photograph, while cherished, is insufficient to fulfill the emotional needs of the narrator. This longing for genuine interaction and the comfort of being with the person 'the way you are' is a central theme of the song, making it a poignant exploration of love, memory, and the human need for connection.
The author's incorrect/inconsistent spelling of names has been retained (e.g. Trndhjem for Trondhjem, Rskilde for Roskilde and Gotha Canal for Gtha C.). Other word errors have been corrected and a list of corrections can be found after the book.
The two references to "Fredericksborg Castle" on page 22, should correctly say "Fredericksberg Castle". This is a mistake by the author. The two references to "Fredericksborg Castle" on pages 34 and 38 are correct.
Having resolved upon a journey due north, twentydays of travel over familiar routes carried the authoracross the Atlantic and, by the way of Liverpool, London,Paris, and Hamburg, landed him in Copenhagen,the pleasant and thrifty capital of Denmark. As thefollowing pages will be devoted to Scandinavia, Russia,and Russian Poland, this metropolis seems to bea proper locality at which to begin the northernjourney with the reader.
It was already nearly midnight when the HtelD'Angleterre, fronting upon the Kongens Nytorv,was reached. So long a period of uninterrupted[Pg 2]travel, night and day, rendered a few hours of quietsleep something to be gratefully appreciated. Earlythe next morning the consciousness of being in astrange city, always so stimulating to the observanttraveller, sent us forth with curious eyes upon thethoroughfares of the Danish capital before the averagecitizen was awake. The importunities of couriersand local guides, who are always on the watchfor visitors, were at first sedulously ignored; forit would be foolish to rob one's self of the greatpleasure of a preliminary stroll alone amid scenes andlocalities of which one is blissfully ignorant. A ciceronewill come into the programme later on, and is aprime necessity at the proper time; but at the outsetthere is a keen gratification and novelty in verifyingor contradicting preconceived ideas, by threading unattendeda labyrinth of mysterious streets and blindalleys, leading one knows not where, and suddenlycoming out upon some broad square or boulevard fullof unexpected palaces and grand public monuments.
It was thus that we wandered into the old MarketSquare where Dietrick Slagheck, Archbishop of Lundand minister of Christian II., was burned alive. Aslight stretch of the imagination made the place stillto smell of roasted bishop. "Is this also the land ofwooden shoes?" we asked ourself, as the rapid clatterof human feet upon the pavements recalled the familiarstreet-echoes of Antwerp. How eagerly the eyereceives and retains each new impression under suchcircumstances! How sharp it is to search out peculiarities[Pg 3]of dress, manners, architecture, modes of conveyance,the attractive display of merchandise in shop-windows,and even the expression upon the faces ofmen, women, and children! Children! if any one saysthe Danish children are not pretty, you may withsafety contradict him. Their delicately rounded, freshyoung faces are lit up by such bright, turquoise-colored,forget-me-not blue eyes as appeal to the heart at once.What a wholesome appetite followed upon this pioneerexcursion, when we entered at breakfast on a newseries of observations while satisfying the vigorouscalls of hunger, each course proving a novelty, andevery dish a fresh voyage of gastronomic discovery!
The possessions of Denmark upon the main-landare in our day quite circumscribed, consisting of Jutlandonly; but she has besides several islands farand near, of which Zeeland is the most populous, andcontains the capital. As a State, she may be said tooccupy a much larger space in history than upon themap of Europe. The surface of the island of Zeelandis uniformly low, in this respect resembling Holland,the highest point reaching an elevation of but fivehundred and fifty feet. To be precise in the matterof her dominions, the colonial possessions of Denmarkmay be thus enumerated: Greenland, Iceland, theFaroe group of islands, between the Shetlands andIceland; adding St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. Johnin the West Indies. Greenland is nearly as large asGermany and France combined; but its inhabitantsdo not quite reach an aggregate of ten thousand.Iceland is about the size of our New England States,and has a population of seventy-five thousand. TheFaroes contain ten thousand inhabitants, and thethree West Indian islands united have a populationof a little over forty thousand.
A slight sense of disappointment was realized atnot finding more visible evidences of antiquity whilevisiting the several sections of the capital, particularlyas it was remembered that a short time since,in 1880, the Danish monarchy reached the thousandthanniversary of its foundation under Gorm the Old,whose reign bridges over the interval between merelegend and the dawn of recorded history. Gorm is[Pg 7]supposed to have been a direct descendant of thefamous Viking, Regnar Lodbrog, who was a daringand imperious ruler of the early Northmen. The commonorigin of the three Baltic nationalities whichconstitute Scandinavia is clearly apparent to thetraveller who has visited Denmark, Sweden, and Norway,or to any one who has even an ordinary knowledgeof their history. The race has been steadilymodified, generation after generation, in its morevivid characteristics, by the progressive force of civilization.These Northmen are no longer the haughtyand reckless warriors who revelled in wine drunkfrom the skulls of their enemies, and who deemeddeath only respectable when encountered upon thebattle-field. Clearer intelligence and culture havesubstituted the duties of peaceful citizens for those ofmarauders, and the enterprises of civilized life for theexaggerated romance of chivalry. Reading and writing,which were looked upon among them as allied tothe black art a few centuries ago, are now the universalaccomplishment of all classes, and nowhereon the globe will the traveller find a people morecheerful, intelligent, frank, and hospitable than inthe three kingdoms of the far North.
Though the Danes are physically rather small,resembling in this respect the Japanese, still theyspring, as we have seen, from a brave and warlikerace, and have never been subjugated by any otherpeople. On the contrary, in the olden time they conqueredEngland, dismembered France, and subjugated[Pg 8]Norway and Sweden. The time has been when theDanes boasted the largest and most efficient navy inthe world, and their realm still justly bears the titleof "Queen of the Baltic." As to seamanship, theyare universally acknowledged to be among the bestsailors who navigate the ocean. That Germanycovets Denmark is more than hinted at. The authorheard a loud-talking naval gentleman, of Germannationality, coolly express the opinion that Denmarkas an independent kingdom had nearly reached theclose of its existence. This was on board the Germanmail-steamer, while crossing a branch of the Balticbetween the ports of Kiel and Korsoer. Whetherthis individual reflected the ambitious purposes of thepresent German government, or only echoed a popularsentiment of his nation, the reader is left to judge.Were Bismarck to attempt, upon any subterfuge, toabsorb Denmark, it is reasonable to suppose thatother European powers would have something to sayupon the subject; but that the map of Europe, as nowconstructed, is destined to undergo radical changes inthe near future cannot be doubted.
The Ethnological Museum of the city, better knownas the Museum of Northern Antiquities, is generallyconsidered to be the most remarkable institution of itsclass in Europe. Students in this department ofscience come from all parts of the civilized world toseek knowledge from its countless treasures. One ishere enabled to follow the progress of our race fromits primitive stages to its highest civilization. Thenational government liberally aids all purposes akin toscience and art; consequently this Museum is a favoredobject of the State, being also liberally endowedby private munificence. Each of the three distinctiveperiods of Stone, Bronze, and Iron forms an elaboratedivision in the spacious halls of the institution.[Pg 13]In classifying the objects, care has been taken notonly to divide the three great periods named, but alsoin each of these divisions those belonging to the beginningand the end of the period are chronologicallyplaced, as fast as such nice distinctions can bewrought out by careful, scientific study and comparison.Here the visitor gazes with absorbing interest upon thetangible evidences of a race that inhabited this earthprobably thousands of years before it was brokeninto islands and continents. Their one token, theserude, but expressive stone implements, are foundequally distributed from the Arctic Circle to theEquator, from Canada to Brazil, from England toJapan. Scientists whose culture and intelligence entitletheir opinion to respect, place the Stone Age ashere illustrated at least twenty thousand years beforethe birth of Christ. How absorbing is the interestattaching to these relics which ages have consecrated!No matter what our preconceived notions may be,science only deals with irrefutable facts. The periodsdelineated may be thus expressed: first the Flint period,which comes down to fifteen hundred years beforeChrist; followed by the Bronze, which includesthe next twelve or thirteen hundred years; then theIron, which comes down far into the Christian era.What is termed the Medival brings us to 1536, sincewhich time there is no occasion for classification. Nowonder the antiquarian becomes so absorbed in thestudy of the past. "The earliest and the longest hasstill the mastery over us," says George Eliot. Progress[Pg 14]is daily making in the correct reading of these comprehensivedata, and those who may come after us willbe born to a great wealth of antiquity. Other countriesmay learn much from the admirable managementof this Museum in the matter of improving the educationaladvantages which it affords. Professors of eminencedaily accompany the groups of visitors, clearlyexplaining the purport and the historical relations ofthe many interesting objects. These persons are notmerely intelligent employees, but they are also trainedscientists; and, above all, they are enthusiastic in freelyimparting the knowledge which inspires them. Suchimpromptu lectures are both original and impressive.Indeed, to go through the Ethnological Museum ofCopenhagen understandingly is a liberal education.It should be added that the zeal and affability of theseable officials is as freely and cheerfully extended tothe humblest citizen as to distinguished strangers.One returns again and again with a sort of fascinationto these indisputable evidences of history relating toperiods of which there is no written record. If they arepartially defective in their consecutive teachings, theyare most impressive in the actual knowledge whichthey convey. Without giving us a list of sovereigns orpositive dates, they afford collectively a clearer knowledgeof the religion, culture, and domestic life of thepeople of their several periods than a Gibbon or aBancroft could depict with their glowing pages.
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