YOUR FAITH HAS SAVED YOU

Jaycob A. Bustamante

ENLIT 12 ZZ

jaycob.bustamante@obf.ateneo.edu

Religion has always been the most caroled of subjects. While the formal definition

remains to be controversial and debatable, it can be generally seen through this perspective —

a religion is seen to be a unified system of beliefs and practices which are related to a sacred

subject. Furthermore, these beliefs and practices unite its adherents to a form in a moral

community, hence relating religion to be eminently collective. (Durkheim 24) Because of its

potency in the lives of people, it creates complex relations with various individuals,

communities, and even one’s own behavior, which in turn develops the importance of religion

in literary tradition. While most use religion and faith interchangeably, these terms have

prominent differences from each other. Faith is a deliberate and conscious decision to risk and

commit oneself to a greater purpose. (Haight 2) While at first glance religion seems to

encompass the concept of faith, it however is a different complex with regards to religion

because of the fact that religion is systematized compared to the freedom that faith imbues

within the individual. The difference between these two related terms causes one of the most

significant dramas which creates a disruption between the various complex relationships within

the moral community, the conflict between oneself and the collective whole. With these

definitions and potential conflicts, the relationship between religion and faith can be better

explored along with the experience of an individual with these potent aspects of life. Hence,

this essay aims to discuss the concept of religion and faith in the context of the internal conflict

and resolution of the persona in the poem “E Tenebris” by Oscar Wilde.

 In the context of the internal conflict, this feeling of despair and anguish can be seen in

the first octave of the poem. The narrator appears to be in a dire situation, lamenting his own

circumstances even feeling uncertain if he can overcome this, even calling out for help as the

first line reads “Come down, O Christ, and help me! Reach thy hand”. (Wilde 1) While this

line is considered to be a plea of a distressed person in a dire circumstance, it, along with other

terms used in the poem such as God and Hell, also serves the purpose of having an established

religion, Christianity, as one of central themes of the story. Moreover, the description of his

dire circumstance continues in the later lines of the octave as he feels hopeless and terrified

even concluding to the fact that he/she will go to Hell if he/she must die, lines from the text

show “And well I know my soul in Hell must lie” and “If I this night before God’s throne

should stand”. (Wilde 1) This gives an impression that because he/she has this assurance of

him going to hell when he/she passes, it can allude to the fact he/she has committed a sin of

great magnitude in eyes of the religion he/she is encompassed in. More of this lamentation and

despair can be seen in the lines of the text, “The wine of life is spilt upon the sand” and “My

heart is some famine-murdered land” (Wilde 1). Wine of life is a metaphor to blood, and the

spilling of his own blood on dirt emphasizes the degradation of the value of his/her well-being.

Furthermore, it also shows his/her finitude, the state of having limits, since the spilling of blood

commonly alludes to the end of someone’s life and within the context of the poem it shows

that he/she already has reached his/her limit. In the second line mentioned, the comparison to

a plagued land shows the hopelessness and desolation of his own situation. While these two

lines describe the state of his own situation, it can also give some evidence to which these

lamentations are caused by. Both lines describe a dreadful situation, however this problem does

not initially come from oneself but from an external factor, and as religion was defined

previously, the moral community is what encompasses religion. Their shared views, beliefs,

and practices are then systematized within the moral community, and therefore implemented

by it also. Which is then reflected unto the individual as he/she has complex relations and is a

part of the moral community. In the context of the persona, the lamentations are the negative

reflections transpired within himself because of points of view of the religion he/she is

encompassed by. Due to being encompassed in a religion and having committed a great sin

within the context of that religion leads the persona to have this negative reflection upon

himself. Therefore, the conflict is present as he/she is struggling to view what religion truly is,

that even though he pleads to the sacred subject in his/her religion he will be ultimately doomed

to damnation because of his/her sin. There is however a tonal shift towards the end of the poem,

changing from a lamented and melodramatic tone to that of hope, contrary to the statements

he/she gave in the first octave.

As there is internal conflict within the persona there is also an attempt to resolve the

conflict present, this can be seen in the last six lines of the text, or the lines after the octave

previously mentioned. The first three lines of this part of the poem shows a quote “He sleeps

perchance, or rideth to the chase, Like Baal, when his prophets howled that name. From morn

to noon on Carmel’s smitten height” (Wilde 1) This alludes to an ironic voice discouraging

him/her, similar to the events in 1 Kings 18. 19-20, where Elijah taunted a group of priest

worshipping Baal stating that their god will either be busy or asleep in their time of need.

(Wilde 1) While the source of this quote remains unknown, it can be said that it is directed to

the persona, questioning and even taunting him/her that even though he calls out for his God,

He will either be asleep or busy. This line serves the purpose of questioning and rambling the

faith of an individual who is lost, in despair and anguish, coupled with being doomed to

damnation by himself because of his/her own sin. However, the persona although in

lamentation, stayed steadfast to his/her faith responding with “Nay, peace, I shall behold,

before the night” rebutting to the ironic voice that his God will not abandon him/her, that He

will not exhibit the actions said in the taunt, that he/she will achieve peace before he/she passes,

a direct contrary to his/her previous belief that he/she will perish in hell once he passes because

of the sin he has committed. (Wilde 1) Furthermore, the two lines of the poem described his/her

savior, lines from the text read “The feet of brass, the robe more white than flame”, and “the

wounded hands, and the weary human face.” (Wilde 1) This gives an image in which similar

to the Jesus risen after being nailed to the cross, the bright white robes, and the fine brass feet

alluding to the vision in Revelation 1:15, presenting that he now sees his God in his divine

form. (Wilde 1) Yet he/she also saw his savior in all his/her humanity as well, giving an image

of a humbled God with “wounded hands” and “a weary human face”. As seen with the

transition of the poem, these descriptions shifted focus from the damnation and lamentation

primarily caused by the grave seen he has committed, to the depictions of God himself in all

His divinity and humanity. In this context can the persona’s resolution be understood through

the concept of faith, where it was defined to be the action of freely committing oneself to a

greater purpose, and this now gives a deeper meaning to the shift in focus and tone of the

persona. Previously, he/she focused on the despair and anguish present in his dire situation due

to the negative reflections transpired within himself/herself, this focuses on the religion aspect

of his faith as this is not considered to be the greater purpose he/she has committed when he/she

chose to have faith. In these last six lines, it can be observed that the persona finally had a shift

in focus, depicting God in all his divinity and humanity, which in turn makes the persona realize

and remind himself/herself of the greater purpose that he has committed to, which is God and

what God believes in. That his/her God will not be occupied when His adherents are in need,

that his/her God will not shun anyone because the individual committed a sin, and that his/her

God will provide peace to each and everyone before they pass. This reminder and realization

made by the persona, shifted not only the focus of his/her depictions but also the tone in which

he/she has about his/her situation, a direct contrast to the first octave of the poem. That while

religion is an important component and aspect to one’s life, it is ultimately driven by the faith

that one has, and truly this is what that saved him/her.

These descriptions and depictions in the poem, together with the concepts of faith and

religion, show complex relationship between an individual has with the moral community,

religion, faith, and the individual’s self. It also shows the complexity of religion and faith, and

how they can both be interconnected, and disconnected at the same time. It shows how religion

can sometimes forget to engrain within its adherents the true purpose for their beliefs and

practices. And alluding to the title of the poem, “E Tenebris” or Out of Darkness this shows

the freedom and enlightenment that faith can provide because ultimately comes from the

deliberate and conscious decision of the person to commit oneself to a greater purpose. (Wilde

1) Therefore, providing the individual the freedom to choose whatever he/she deems is worthy

of a greater purpose, which subsequently propagates the freedom provided with the freedom

experienced by the individual because it is of his/her own choice.

 Works Cited:

Wilde, Oscar. 21. E Tenebris. Wilde, Oscar. Poems, 1881 www.bartleby.com/143/21.html. n.d

Holder, Arthur. “Roger Haight, Spirituality Seeking Theology.” SAGE Journals,

journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0040571X15595911k?journalCode=tjxa. 2015

Durkheim, Emile. The Elementary Forms of Religious Life, trans. Carol Cosman. Oxford,
England: Oxford University Press, 2001.
http://sites.fas.harvard.edu/~gov2785/lectures/9-22%20lecture%20-
%20Definitions%20of%20religion.pdf. 11 April 2019