Pray cometh hither, dark muse – Chap. 6, Act 4, Strip 11

Meanwhile, back in Mopey’s dungeon cell…

Having given up on sleeping due to the disagreeable nature of her dreams, Mopey could no longer resist the insidious lure of those books full of empty pages the Professor thoughtfully provided to her.

And how could she? Gothic poetry has always been her (dark) passion, and could there be a more inspiring location to write some than inside a dungeon cell? Especially a really nice one like this one, with authentic medieval flair. It could be a bit more moldy and dirty, admittedly, but that would have practical drawbacks well in excess of the additional inspiration.

Despite of the inspiring environment, she does struggle with the first word of her first poem, as usual. When it does come to her, it turns out to be ‘darkness’, the same word that every single poem in her other 11 volumes of Gothic poetry begins with, but that doesn’t mean she could simply have used it from the start. Her muse doesn’t work that way. Her muse wants her to suffer, since suffering is crucial to writing good Gothic poetry. And only through suffering can she find the inspiration for that crucial first word, time and again. It only happens to be always the same word because her muse is so damn unoriginal.

More on Thursday!






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