By Meghan Merlino
The Vampire by James Clerk Maxwell
I thoroughly enjoy this poem because it feels karmic to me. Initially, the knight introduced seems altruistic and genuine and it feels like a love story where the knight saves the woman and lives happily ever after with her. However, we learn that he did wrong by the vampire in the past or a past life and ironically, he doesn’t save her but instead she kills him. To me it seems though the knight is not so noble but rather egotistical and possibly broke her heart in the past and betrayed her somehow that caused her soul to die. So now he must face the same consequences she had to.
In classic vampire fashion, she is portrayed as this beautiful woman “so bright and fair” with golden hair, which is what draws him to her possibly revealing his superficial nature. I believe there may also be a connection in the type of tree she is sitting under. He passes birch trees and others, however she is sitting under a willow tree. Willow trees symbolize hardship and loss, as well as rebirth which would be interesting if that was intentional because the vampire is “reborn” after her mortal life ended. As a mortal who went through this heartbreak, she lost a love and probably herself for a while thereafter. I recently went through a pretty tragic heartbreak myself about 2 months ago and I would undoubtedly describe it as the hardest loss of my life but it taught me self love, and I consider that a rebirth.
Vampires also relish in the misery of others which I thinkis quite literal here- I think as his former lover she wants to see him suffer. It is also inferred at the end when the waves are described as sea foam white with the boat “dancing” atop them that a storm has brewed, which is foreshadowing the demise that is about to happen to him.
Since historically vampires represent things that detract from life it is possible it is inferring that vanity and betrayal both have this effect. I for one believe this statement to be true. It’s so easy to judge based off of superficiality but a lot of times it’s deceiving. Many do not show their true colors on the surface and it is easy to be deceived when you have an idealistic view of someone or that is the only side they show you. I also think betrayal is one of the worst actions to exist – it causes such deep hurt for the victim and shame / guilt for the perpetrator.
I personally love that the knight has to suffer because of the wrong he has done, and it’s pertinent to real life. At 28, as someone who has been hurt quite a few times I do believe that when you cause detriment you will learn your own lesson the hard way, sometimes requiring you to be hurt in a similar way. Selfishly, I have definitely wanted for exes that have hurt me to feel remorse and anguish afterward.
I read that Maxwell wrote this poem at 15 which most likely disproves the deep meaning behind love and suffering – at 15 I think it’s limited how much you can actually know about love. Meaning this could either be inspiration from a young love or because vampires had a large popularity at the time the poem was written. In any case, karmic cycles will complete themselves.
Hey Meghan! I’ve never read this poem before so that was a kind of unexpected twist for her to be the vampire, I thought a third party would come in so the surprise was super fun. I do love how it goes against our expectations since it seems an often-told story at the beginning but becomes something entirely different in the latter half. It does seem like he betrayed her somehow in the past so though in reality murder isn’t the solution, I’m living for the drama in this poem. Great catch on your end to look into the meaning behind the willow tree, I’m sure the significance was intentional and I’m so glad you’ve been able to work on self-love in a dark time, going through that myself at the moment, you have my sincere sympathy. I totally agree that in most cases I think betrayals are worse than head-on wronging someone from the get-go, the hurt is generally a lot deeper emotionally I’d say. Appreciate the context of Maxwell’s situation while writing the poem too, I’d still like to read the poem deeper as you did, but it’s kind of funny to think a 15-year-old was probably just trying his hand at a vampire poem when we can view it so much more seriously.
Hi Meghan,
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post. I like how you made connections through symbolism in the poem, like the vampire trope and willow tree. And also how you paid close attention to the words the poet chose to implement in how the knight described the vampire. There’s much to dissect there about patriarchal notions and intimate relations. Additionally, I appreciated how you drew connections to the poem from your own life. Poetry has always kind of intimidated me in these regards. The complex language was a deterrent for me in the past, but I’ve learned it takes a lot of patience to really sit with a poem and dissect it to truly understand its meaning. But that’s the beauty of it. And poetry offers us that outlet to feel seen, even if it may feel scary to have parts of ourselves recognized in poems.