AustLit

Dingley responds to W. H. Wilde's reading of the poem as an "affirmation of life" and the protagonist as "the archetypal figure of man, triumphing in spirit over the bondage of the body by old age". Dingley challenges this reading because of Wilde's "refusal to admit the central relevance of the poem's mythological premise". Dingley argues that Ogyges' vision is limited by his private failures and his final comment is not an affirmation, but a bewildered and resigned ignorance.