Poetry in Portal.

[Lightice]

Interestingly, I found a piece of poetry written on the wall of the little Companion Cube-room:

"Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me."

This is a part of Emily Dickinson's poem, Because I could not stop for Death. In full it goes:

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me;
The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality.

We slowly drove, he knew no haste,
And I had put away
My labor, and my leisure too,
For his civility.

We passed the school where children played,
Their lessons scarcely done;
We passed the fields of gazing grain,
We passed the setting sun.

We paused before a house that seemed
A swelling of the ground;
The roof was scarcely visible,
The cornice but a mound.

Since then it is centuries; but each
Feels shorter than the day
I first surmised the horses? heads
Were toward eternity.

In my mind, this poem disturbingly connects with some of GlaDOS' last words: "I have your brain skanned."
What if this means that Chell's mind is in fact really stored in GlaDOS' memory and that every single test subject to have gone through the course has actually been a Chell-clone with an implanted memory and the current Chell is just the only one to make out? Even though GlaDOS is an extremely unreliable witness, this idea is too interesting to discard. And a poem describing an infinite journey in Death's company certainly would feel suitable in such a context...

I can't quite make out what the following parts say, but they seem to modify the poem considerably; something about the Cube and immortality...

 

[jerkasaur]

I remember reading something about this before, and if you read the poem more carefully, you'll see it's altered.
the part
"The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality."
has changed to
"the Cube had food ..???... ammo..."
damn, can't read it, res too low. but i'm pretty sure that this was mentioned before, with the full text seen in game.

 

[Asymptote]

I remember reading something about this before, and if you read the poem more carefully, you'll see it's altered.
the part
"The carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality."
has changed to
"the Cube had food ..???... ammo..."
damn, can't read it, res too low. but i'm pretty sure that this was mentioned before, with the full text seen in game.

I think the altered version went something like:

"The Cube had food and maybe ammo
f**k immortality."

 

[flamekiller]

The word immediately preceeding "ammo" is "maybe" ... perhaps it's "The cube has (had?) food in it / maybe ammo"

The part between food and maybe is too garbled for me to tell for sure, but "find immortality" is barely legible.

The red writing (blood?) looks like it just says "why why why ... why why???????"; I wonder if that's just random torment or if it's more deeply meaningful. The skull on the cube instead of a heart is a nice touch, though.

Nice catch; I wonder where else there's hidden meaning?

 

[CakeCube]

I took some pictures from the Companion Cube room, i hope you like them.

Pictures from Companion Cube-room:

 

[GM)Paravin.]

I took some pictures from the Companion Cube room, i hope you like them.

Pictures from Companion Cube-room:

Why does that freak me out?

 

[PyromaniacLVI]

Why does that freak me out?

Its the rantings of an insane mind. Insanity is creepy because of the fear that you yourself can lose your mind as well. At least thats the best explanation to why it's creepy that I can come up with. (Those rooms I found quite creepy as well.)

I know in the companion cube room the rushed crazy way it was written and the companion cube taped over the peoples heads is creepy. It reminds me of the time I took a photo of someone and blacked out the eyes.

 

[Cthrag Yaska]

Thats awesome, i saw it briefly when playing the game and didnt think much of it. GJ you observant people out there

 

[Hydra]

What the hell? Am I mad too? 3rd picture.

login: cjohnson
password: tier3

 

[AJ Rimmer]

What the hell? Am I mad too? 3rd picture.

login: cjohnson
password: tier3

Nope, that's right. That's where we got the login details for aperturescience.com

 

[Jintor]

Logon to www.aperturescience.com with that username and password, and see what happens.

 

[Cthrag Yaska]

Lol type 'help'.

 

[v1p3r]

Here's a better image:

 

[PyromaniacLVI]

based off that clearer picture heres my interpretation of the words:
from top left down and to right

(hand print)

the cake is a lie.
the cake is a lie.
the cake is a lie.
the cake is a lie.
the cake is a lie.

drawing of a cube going through a portal and falling down

A aperature flyer with the words "A Trusted Friend In Science" on it.

(next to a drawing of a camera or maybe a turret)Hello? Can I Help You?

Where
Are
You?
I
Will
Find
You. (all near pictures of the companion cube in various places and hearts
in red all over the place)

the number 90 in (insert name of scratch numbering system here) 
it has 2 arrows pointing down to a energy ball about to hit a wedge at
high speed

Picture of cake with the word "Tasty" on it

the number 90 in (insert name of scratch numbering system here) 
it has 2 arrows pointing up to a energy ball about to hit a wedge at 
high speed

CoMpAnIoN cUbE (caps are red)

(this next part is all around another aperature flyer with "Not Never but
NOW" on it with the head on the stick figure on the flyer having a
companion cube taped over it)
You said to take care of it 
You can't
You Wouldn't let me
I should disregard your       (the y is faint)
advise. Leave me alone! 

STOP WATCHING! (in red underlined)

Though earth and man are gone, I thought the cube would last forever. I WAS WRONG

(next part is quite smudged)

The Vital Apparatus Vent will deliver. Oh, it will WILL

The Weighted Companion Cube DOES speak

R.I.P. (in red under pictures with companion cube pictures taped over the faces)

Superstitions Percieving Inanimate 
Objects as alive and hallucinations 
I'm not hallucinating. You are. 
The companion cube would never desert me. Desert. So long... 
Cake. Ha Ha Cake. A lie. 
The companion cube would 
never lie to me.

login: cjohnson
password: tier3   (says "Trust Me" in red next to the login)

Because I Could Not Stop for Death; He kindly stopped for me. The cube had food and maybe ammo And immortality.

Why Why Why
Why Why Why
Why Why
Why Why
Why Why Why
Why Why Why Why Why
? ???? ?????  (Next to a drawing of a companion cube with a skull in the center instead of a heart.)

NEVER

Not in cruelty,
Not in wrath,
The REAPER came today; (AP underlined)
An ANGEL visited (G underlined)
this gray path,
And took the cube away.

 

[flamekiller]

I think that "Though earth and than are gone ..." should read as "Though earth and man are gone ..." Good eye, though. I had not clue what the really smudged stuff read.

 

[fatchance]

Who would have though a game that starts out so dead pan can have so much in storyline.

Not me. Silly me, I should have suspected, the same thing happened when I 1st played HL1, the looooong opening sequence, and the boring (was) beginning part of the game didn't prepare me for the real game.

Portal is quite the same.

 

[oitso]

What's with the jellyfishes?

 

[Headcrab Pie]

Just somthing bored Aperture workers drew.

 

[Druckles]

No, it was drawn by the daughters at "Bring your own daughter to work day"

 

[oitso]

What do you think "bring your daughter to work day" means? And suddenly portals main character is a woman.

 

[Headcrab Pie]

What do you think "bring your daughter to work day" means? And suddenly portals main character is a woman.

Hmmm....I'd assume it meant employees could "Bring their Daughter to work"!

 

[Druckles]

Hmmm....I'd assume it meant employees could "Bring their Daughter to work"!

Couldn't have said it better.

What do you think "bring your daughter to work day" means? And suddenly portals main character is a woman.

So? Adrian Shephard's a man. Omg!

 

[oitso]

And maybe Chell is somebodys daughter?

 

[Rizzo]

Shephards daughter perhaps?

Btw i think it says **** immortality, just that the ck is smudged.

My guess Chell was a former worker, and knew about what was going on. I mean, imagine a person being thrust into a scenario like portal, having no clue about whats going on, and being able to solve all those puzzles. Doesn't sound like "the mind of a child" to me.
I just think it's more realistic that she was adult when she was placed there to begin with.
GLADOS also says somethin about you not being a nice person and all.

 

[Druckles]

Um... wasn't Gordon "thrust" into the same obstacles?