THE YOUNG FATE
By:
April 5, 2025
A (pro- or anti-) science-, mathematics-, technology-, space-, apocalypse-, dehumanization-, disenchantment-, and/or future-oriented poem published during sf’s emergent Radium Age (c. 1900–1935). Research and selection by Joshua Glenn.
Alien, ineluctable stars who deign,
Omnipotent, on time’s far edge, to shine
Pure supernatural light, beyond my ken,
Who probe our tears up to the very source
With sovereign rays, unconquerable force,
The fleeting traces of eternity,
I am alone with you, trembling, away
Now from my bed.
— Excerpt from a translation by Jan Schreiber. La Jeune Parque, published in 1917, is an enigmatic work noted for both its difficulty and its formal beauty. It presents the musings of Clotho, the youngest of the three Fates, as she stands uncertain whether to remain a serene immortal or to choose the pains and pleasures of human life.
See the essay LANGUAGE, PHYSICS AND MATHEMATICS IN VALERY’S CAHIERS by Judith Robinson (1960). Also see this.
RADIUM AGE PROTO-SF POETRY: Stephen Spender’s THE PYLONS | George Sterling’s THE TESTIMONY OF THE SUNS | Archibald MacLeish’s EINSTEIN | Thomas Thornely’s THE ATOM | C.S. Lewis’s DYMER | Stephen Vincent Benét’s METROPOLITAN NIGHTMARE | Robert Frost’s FIRE AND ICE | Aldous Huxley’s FIFTH PHILOSOPHER’S SONG | Sara Teasdale’s “THERE WILL COME SOFT RAINS” | Edith Södergran’s ON FOOT I HAD TO… | Robert Graves’s WELSH INCIDENT | Nancy Cunard’s ZEPPELINS | D.H. Lawrence’s WELLSIAN FUTURES | & many more.