The Hospital Window

The Hospital Window is one of the first visions and objects in the book, it is important because it at once symbolizes the authors very real incarceration in a psychiatric hospital following a nervous breakdown and also his internal incarceration in a world devoid of meaning and full of desolation.

The Burial Urns

The Burial Urns described by Thomas Browne are talked about by the author being found throughout Norwich and Suffolk and hold a peculiar fascination as they symbolise the things that we wish to live beyond our own deaths. They are in a sense time capsules from the past to the future and contain also an analogy to the silkworm and the hope for a rebirth or a metamorphosis.

Rembrant's Painting of 'The Dissection'

The author talks about Rembrant's painting and travels to see it ensconced in The Hague during the book. Here...