NARCISSIST – Daejung Choi

“As I walk the path that has paved my life,  

I stumble across the heads that I have sliced with my knife.  

A sword, one that speaks the truth has accompanied my life,  

The dull blade has kept me safe and sound in strife.  

I ask the question, am I a narcissist?” 

 

“I look down and see my reflection in the water looking up, 

And all I see of importance is myself. 

What I have achieved will remain permanent in time,  

My glory will shine through history and its prime.  

I ask the question once more, am I a narcissist?” 

 

“The kingdom that I have risen from the ashes will stay in place, 

While the world will soon be flooded with statues of my face. 

I am more important than those I have ever encountered,  

And my reign will last forever, as my life will flounder. 

I ask the question one last time, am I a narcissist?” 

 

As I read the scripture of the statue on the wall, 

I couldn’t recall who this figure was, down the hall. 

I walk away from the stone figurine and its words, 

And settle down on my throne, observing upon the peasants building my kingdom. 

“I ask the question one last time, am I a narcissist?”

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Poem Composition: NARCISSIST by Daejung Choi

As clearly mentioned in the title and in multiple times throughout the composition, Daejung Choi’s 2022 poem “NARCISSIST” presents the consequence that comes with thinking of yourself to an excessive extent once compared to the force of nature. NARCISSST is written in the form of rhymed poetry, with the incorporation of many figurative devices. NARCISSST tells the story of a scripture off of a stone figurine that is being read in the mind of what seems to be another royal figure. The scripture that is being read describes what once was another king and the things that he had to do to achieve the status he wanted, such as killing others in his way with his blade. The king continues to talk about his permanence and how his achievements and reign will be set in stone forever, and then we are brought back and hit with the realization that the story of the king is nothing but a scripture on a wall. Another royal figure had been reading these scriptures the entire time, and as he walks away from the statue and settles into his throne, he asks if he is a narcissist himself. Choi thematically explains that nothing is permanent; nothing in history will affect the world from a global aspect forever and that man is of little importance in comparison to earth’s spheres and its development around nature.  

Looking in from a bird’s eye view into today’s society, it has been made clear that hubris is something that carries great risk. Our lack of sympathy and increase in self-arrogance for one another as well as towards our earth has slowly begun to carry a risk that may cause a permanent change in the future. Looking from a historical lens, the increase of self-arrogance does somewhat leave a mark on one’s legacy. Drawing similar themes from pieces of poetry such as “Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “Macbeth” by Shakespeare, Choi continues to build upon the theme that abuse is synonymous with power and that how someone decides to use power will heavily affect their legacy. With the incorporation of figurative devices such as rhyme, repetition, irony, alliteration, and imagery Choi does an exceptional job at representing what a misuse of power could have on someone’s legacy. An instance of a major figurative device is found through irony when the king is describing how important he is and will be for the remainder of time: “My glory will shine through history and its prime”. This is extremely ironic, as later it is revealed that this is simply scriptures on a stone wall. It is ironic because no matter how high the king thought of himself, once he passed away his significance would mean nothing in the spectrum of history, hence the reader of the scriptures saying, “I couldn’t recall who this figure was…”. Imagery and tone are also quite powerful aspects of NARCISSIST. Choi uses imagery to provide a more detailed landscape of the world that this king had lived in: “The kingdom that I have risen from the ashes… as my life will flounder…” and by using imagery Choi depicts a very clear image as to the life this king had lived within. The tone of NARCISSIST is one that is quite somber but royal; throughout the poem, we see a recurring appearance of the permanence of one’s power and the things that the king had to do to maintain this power which often involved death, but we also see the royal aspect of with words such as “Kingdom” and “Reign”. 

Overall, Choi’s use of figurative devices such as imagery, rhyme, as well as the overall composition of the poem shines a light on some of the problems society still faces today. These problems are centered around hubris, more commonly known individually as narcissism but as a collective, hubris. These problems describe that with a certain level of status that power can be used in a variety of manners, with abuse being a primary use of power. Our choices will later come back and affect our legacy, and if we choose to do things that revolve around ourselves, we will end up disappearing sooner or later. NARCISSIST describes that with the poor selection of ways to hold a reign, the consequences will later come to affect us greater than ever imagined. 

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Poem Composition: Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley

Through the universality and truth around the temporariness of time that Percy Bysshe Shelley shines light towards her 1818 poem known as “Ozymandias”, Shelley presents the insignificance of man when compared to the forces of time and nature. Ozymandias is written in the form of a sonnet, specifically a variant of a Petrarchan sonnet (Iambic Pentameter). Ozymandias tells the story of a traveller from “an antique land” about the trunkless ruins of a statue in the desert. Despite the ironic scripture on the pedestal expressing great power during what seems to be the reign of Ozymandias, there is now nothing that remains but a decaying, lonely statue in the desert. Shelley explains that man is insignificant and negligible; that power is temporary. No matter how powerful or prideful a leader becomes, they are bound to fall at one point or another. 

Throughout time, humans have commonly shared the aspect through the course of history to carry an aspect of narcissism and vanity, commonly known as hubris from a societal and larger standpoint, The ideology of self-arrogance has consequently increased the separation between humans and has caused great risk towards our earth. If we look at hubris today, as a species and as a collective manner, it is evident that our arrogance towards our planet and towards each other as individuals has developed greatly. As individuals, we constantly are putting ourselves at great risk because of our development regarding hubris. Shelley does an exceptional job at explaining the insignificance of man’s hubris by using a variety of figurative devices, including extended metaphors, alliteration, irony, and imagery. For instance, Shelley explicates the impermanence of power through what now remains of the statue: “Nothing beside remains… The lone and level sands stretch far away.” With the incorporation of alliteration and imagery, Shelley is describing how what was once a highly regarded statue is now regarded as unimportant due to the continuous development of our world through time and nature. Dramatic irony is also a key element in Ozymandias: “My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!” The irony is extremely well depicted within these lines, as Ozymandias is very narcissistic with how he thinks of himself, calling himself the “King of Kings”. Although Ozymandias is very arrogant of how he thinks of himself, Shelley expresses irony through the fact that he now is nothing but a trivial object in time, and that the only thing that remains is the “Two vast and trunkless legs of stone”. I have decided to use Ozymandias as a composition for a principal reason, that as a child in elementary school and middle school I was someone that used to think very highly of myself, closely to a narcissist. In reading this poem, it put my life into perspective, and about how I used to think about myself as a child would not matter once I would grow and mature into an older person. As a child, I would always put myself first and would carry a very egotistical and self-confident personality, but as I matured, I came to realize that how I carried myself would not matter as time would sooner or later teach that it had little importance from a larger scale.  

Although Ozymandias was a poem that was composed centuries ago, it’s relevance towards hubris and the risk it brings to our world is still extremely relevant and will continue to carry relevance in our society. Abuse and power are synonymous, and the abusive power that comes along with one’s legacy will not and cannot leave a positive representation to those who decide to use power for themselves. Ozymandias describes how hubris and conceit can blind certain individuals from the truth, about the consequences that ignorance and excessive self-confidence will have on our society, world, and each other.