The Monument of the Broken Column:
An Investigation into Levels of Meaning
Freemasonry uses symbols and allegories to teach lessons about brotherly love, relief, and
truth. Our most familiar symbol, of course, is the square overlaid with the compasses.
Speculative Masonry or symbolic Masonry, as it is sometimes called, transforms seemingly common craft tools into symbolic
devices intended to teach higher lessons of morality. The first degree teaches
us to square our actions with virtue and that the compasses are to keep our behavior within due bounds. To each tool, there is both a literal use for a craftsman and a higher meaning.
But if we stay particularly attentive to the historic lectures in Lodge, we are often treated
to two or more higher meanings for the same symbol. The frequency of finding
multiple meanings for the same object is astonishing. For example, the letter G is literally a letter, but we learn that it
denotes geometry, which is viewed as a synonym for Masonry. At a higher level,
the letter G also turns our attention to God, the Great Architect of the Universe.
Levels of Meaning
Literary critics call the use of multiple levels of interpretation for the same symbol polysemy. Originally,
Aristotle pointed out in his book on Poetics that symbols and words have a simple
or a double meaning.
Four levels of meaning were introduced in medieval times. Thomas Aquinas analyzed scriptures in four levels in his Summa Theologica (ST-I, Question 1, 10). The
four levels had various names, but they were typically called the descriptive, allegorical, tropological,
and anagogic meanings. While these terms seem excessively technical, they merely
help us look at symbols, art, or literature with an eye to finding richer or higher meaning.
At the descriptive
level, which Aquinas called the historical or literal level, we find the meaning that most would
see in the context of the term or symbol. At the descriptive level, a square
is a tool for finding right angles.
The allegorical
level refers to an understanding of the symbol representing another concept or idea.
The square is seen as the square of virtue.
The tropological involves the moral or biblical interpretation of the image.
A Mason seeks to live on the square, and is associated with right living.
The highest level is the anagogic, which seeks a spiritual or mystical
meaning. In Greek, anagogic literally
means to lead to more, which is the highest sense of meaning. The square is the
jewel given to the Master of the Lodge to designate his authority in Lodge matters.
This four-fold classification system was expanded to five
levels by the Spaniard, Juan Perez de Moya. In his
"Philosophia secreta" (1585), he added a "physical" or "natural" level
below the four medieval levels. Most English speaking users learned of the five-fold
polysemous levels in Northrop Fryes influential 1957 book, Anatomy
of Criticism. Nevertheless, we will revert to the four-fold medieval levels.
The Monument to the Master Builder
Masonic tradition holds that there was erected a marble
monument to commemorate the death of the Master Builder. The monument consisted
of many symbols, which are explained in the historical lecture in the third degree.
But if we spend a little more effort in examining the collection of symbols, and how the relate to each other, we find
multiple meanings even beyond those told us.
This effort of concentration has its rewards. On a visit to an art museum, we could walk briskly through the landscapes, impressionists, and modern paintings
and still enjoy their beauty. Alternatively, we could sit quietly examining a
work of art to take in all that it has for us. Today, let us also take in the
polysemous meanings presented in the marble monument of the beautiful virgin weeping over a broken column.
Weeping Over a Broken Column
Death is sad. It
is sadder still when a person is struck dead in the prime of life. At the descriptive
level, the central figure is the beautiful girl in mourning. We feel the sadness
of the young girl weeping. It is compelling to men who find tears hard to ignore. At her feet lies a broken column, which is an image of premature death in the symbolic
language of cemeteries.
We are informed of several allegorical meanings contained
in the monument. The broken column suggests the unfinished state of the temple of Solomon;
it also alludes to the untimely death of the Master Builder of the temple.
The tropological meaning of
the broken column reminds us of the grief and mortality that comes to all of us. The monument is itself a commemorative grave
marker.
If there is a still higher anagogic meaning, perhaps it
is the overwhelming sorrow of the beautiful virgin who is weeping that touches our hearts.
As the third degree reminds us of our own mortality, the marble monument embodies this meaning for us.
The Open Book
Before the weeping girl lies an open book. At a descriptive level, it may simply be any book.
The allegorical meaning of the book, we are told, is that
the Master Builders virtues there lie in perpetual record. Books symbolize learning.
They remain the primary method to convey information or records over time. Books
continue to be used in Churches and Synagogues to record births, marriages, and deaths of their parishioners. That book is
known as the Book of Life and Death.
At the tropological level of
interpretation, we can easily visualize an open book before us as an image of the Holy Scriptures lying open on an altar. The book is set on part of the broken column as the altar itself.
At the anagogic level, the Book of Life is an image of
a profound ultimate judgment with the Devine. Whose name will or will not appear
is not in our hands.
The Sprig of Acacia
The marble monument prominently draws our attention to
the sprig of acacia in the girls right hand. The bough appears to be a branch
of any kind of plant. At the most basic level, the branch is an element from
our natural world.
But we are reminded of the allegorical meaning of a cedar
tree. It is used to conceal the grave and also to mark the location of the grave
if ever it were to become necessary.
At the tropological level, there
exists a higher meaning of the timely discovery of the hidden grave. Luck often
aids those who persevere in their weary search for their goals.
The anagogic meaning may refer to the clear symbolism
in the choice of an evergreen acacia within the scene of a stone monument. The
evergreen reminds us of the immortality of the soul.
The Urn in her Left Hand
Whereas one hand holds a branch of acacia from the natural
world, the other hand holds a distinctly man-made object. This is the descriptive level.
Yet in the context of a grave marker, an urn is likely used to stow ashes of the departed. Indeed, allegorically this urn holds the ashes of the Master Builder.
The historical lectures give a higher, possibly tropological meaning that reminds us of the three times that the Master Builder was buried. Our buried bodies ultimately turn to ash, whether cremated or not.
Whether the departed is safely deposited in a Grand Temple
or buried on the brow of hill, we continue to remember and honor our loved ones.
At an anagogic level, we sense the tension between an
evergreen in one hand as a symbol of life and the ashes of death held in an urn in the other.
The monument causes us to contemplate the mysteries of life and death.
Father Time
The most unsettling of the symbols in the marble monument is the figure behind the girl. At the descriptive we see an old man playing with the hair of the girl.
Allegorically, the old man is unfolding and counting her ringlets, like the years of our lives
or the rings found in a cross-section of a tree. The old man symbolizes Father
Time. Perhaps he is Chronos, the Greek god of time,
who stands behind the young girl with his sinister scythe in the crook of his arms and his imposing wings overarching the
montage. Lest we be uncertain that the figure symbolizes time, an hour glass
frequently appears at the old mans feet.
The moral interpretation or topological meaning is less obvious, but we are told that time,
persistence, and perseverance will accomplish all things. Just as each Aesops
Fable has a moral lesson, the marble monument teaches us to maintain hope that with time and perseverance, we shall reach
our goals.
The anagogic meaning emphasizes mystery. Father
Time reminds us that we know not the number of our years. Nonetheless, a symbolic Deity stands behind us in all we endeavor
to do.
The Whole Tableau
The arrangement of a lodge is focused toward the East.
The arrangement of the tableau of figures appears to mimic the compass points of a Lodge. If we imagine the girl at an altar with a book open before her, she faces the rising sun. The branch of
acacia in her right hand is closest to the South, which is the beauty and glory of the day.
The urn held in her left hand is in the North where there is no light. Time
stands behind her in the West, where the sun sets. In myth and literature, traveling west is an expression suggesting the end of our days, as we fade into the
sunset.
Contemplating this monument, we are reminded of the tension between the limits of our Earthly
time and our ultimate belief in the immortality of the soul. The weeping is for
the Earthly death we all surely will meet. There is also the reassurance of the
father-like figure counting every hair on our head. (Matthew 10:30)
Historical Issues
The marble monument that we have been examining could not have been constructed at the time
of King Solomon. As the Masonic
Short Talk Bulletin on The Broken Column, (Vol. 34, Feb., 1956, No. 2) pointed out, there were no vellum or papyrus books
at that time; there were only scrolls. (Read the Short Talk at: ncmason.org/book/COLUMN.HTM.)
No Jewish builder would have been cremated at that time. Furthermore, monuments that included
a Greek god and the image of a human would not have been accepted at all. The
idea of a visual depiction of a foreign god at the time of Solomons temple is preposterous.
The generally accepted view of this monument is that it was created in 1819 by Jeremy Cross. The illustration was done by Amos Doolittle.
Brother Cross felt, as we do, that when great men die, they must have a suitable monument.
The symbol of a broken column was widely used. In 1813, the grave of Commodore Lawrence who
fell in battle was marked with a broken column in Trinity Church
graveyard in New York City. This
famous grave was known to Jeremy Cross.
The rest of the figures in the monument were designed to tell a story and to point out moral
ideas. We find that the story is profound with polysemous meanings.
We need not apologize for the evidently non-historical elements in the story of this monument. We learn only that Masonic tradition informs us that a marble monument marked the grave of the Master
Builder.
Conclusion
The language of symbolism is one of the oldest, deepest, and richest means of communication. By seeking deeper meanings embedded in our symbols, we are helped along lifes path. We grow in our understanding and appreciation.
Masonic symbolism teaches valuable lessons at the descriptive,
allegorical, tropological, and ultimately the anagogic level if we but look for them. The monument
of the broken column reminds us of the lessons learned when we were raised to be Master Masons. Attention to the richness
of our symbols will encourage us to practice our Grand Tenants of brotherly love, relief, and truth.
Richard D. Marcus, Junior Warden
George Washington 1776 Lodge, #337 F&AM, Whitefish Bay, Wisconsin
April
2003
Brother Marcus (http://www.uwm.edu/~marcus/) is Associate Professor, Finance, School of
Business Administration, University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee. Among his many published works are several essays published
in Ornan Newsletter (http://www.4masonry.com/) and "Climbing the Liberal Arts and Sciences --- A Lifelong Journey" which appeared in Wisconsin Masonic
Journal (http://www.wisc-freemasonry.com/masonicjournal.htm) of December 2002.
