In Praise of Darkness

“In Praise of Darkness” includes allusions, or references, to diverse pieces of literature. Borges discusses Democritus of Abdera, a philosopher in ancient Greece who, legend has it, blinded himself to gain greater inward sight and understanding without the distractions of the observed world around him. Democritus was an atomist, a school of philosophy that “held that there are two fundamentally different kinds of realities composing the natural world, atoms and void” (“Democritus.” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy). Democritus argued that the soul is made up of fire atoms; his theory of perception, which is based on the interaction of vision and the atoms that make up the material world, connects to the imagery in Borges’s poem.

Borges also directly mentions Emerson, a 19th-century American Transcendentalist, whom Borges also wrote about in his sonnet “Emerson” (See: Further Reading & Resources). Borges was fascinated with the “tall New Englander” (Line 1, “Emerson”), whom he called “an intellectual poet” (Borges at Eighty).

In contrast to these direct allusions, Borges indirectly references Shakespeare and Omar Khayyam in “In Praise of Darkness.” The phrase “the Dane” (Line 39) refers to the titular character of Shakespeare’s play Hamlet, whose protagonist is a Danish prince caught in indecision about whether to avenge his father’s death by killing his uncle. By referencing the sword that belongs to Hamlet, Borges upholds the character’s more “unflinching” (Line 39) moments—using his sword to swear upon, as well as to kill characters such as Claudius and Polonius. Meanwhile, the phrase “the Persian’s moon” (Line 39) subtly alludes to famed 11th-century Persian poet, philosopher, and mathematician Omar Khayyam. Borges employed this reference before in his poem “Rubaiyat,” which is an ode to Khayyam’s poetry (although it is unclear whether the verses attributed to this historical figure were actually composed by him).