The Poetics of Silence in the Spiritual Canticle of St John of the Cross
St John of the Cross knows very well that language is insufficient to discuss mystical experience and so suggests the inexpressible experience at the summit of the soul by letting his words fall silent so that they do not destroy the sacredness of the mystery of this union. In the Canticle, therefor...
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
SCM Press
[2017]
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| In: |
Concilium
Year: 2017, Issue: 5, Pages: 35-47 |
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Juan, de la Cruz 1542-1591, Cántico espiritual
/ Experience of God
/ Silence
/ Poetics
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| IxTheo Classification: | CB Christian life; spirituality CD Christianity and Culture KAH Church history 1648-1913; modern history KDB Roman Catholic Church |
| Further subjects: | B
RELIGIOUS mysteries
B Sacredness B CADENCES (Music theory) |
| Summary: | St John of the Cross knows very well that language is insufficient to discuss mystical experience and so suggests the inexpressible experience at the summit of the soul by letting his words fall silent so that they do not destroy the sacredness of the mystery of this union. In the Canticle, therefore, he passes over in silence those moments at the summit that would have told of the marriage with God beyond this world. He hides these imperceptible silence, a treasure like a beating heart, in the reverent space that separates the unifying stanzas or even some key lines of the poem. In so doing St John leaves his poetic utterance inaudible, hidden, inviolable, like his union with God. They are his best lines, those he carved on silence, those he worked out of air, those he was able to protect from the rough covering of speech, those to which he denied an image and musical cadence. These lines condemned to silence, more instructive than his most beautiful impotent words, teach us by their infinity-bearing silence. Only through this silence can we celebrate with reverence the magnitude of what has taken place, the unimaginable encounter with the living God. |
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| ISSN: | 0010-5236 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Concilium
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