Ave Maria, Gratia Plena, was a product of the pen of Oscar Wilde [1858-1900]. This poem was written in Florence, and describes the poet's mystification at the lack of fanfare involved in the Annunciation, possibly after he saw Leonardo da Vinci's picture of the event at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It marks Wilde's dawning realisation of the very real emotion that may exist and the world-shattering events which may occur and yet be cloaked under an outward lack of ostentation. The poem cannot precisely be described as a poem in praise of the Blessed Virgin, since its only reference to Mary is as Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face [12]. The poem casts a light on the poet's dawning insight into the paltry rewards of superficial gloss and glitter.
AVE MARIA, GRATIA PLENA
Was this His coming! I had hoped to see
A scene of wondrous glory, as was told
Of some great God who in a rain of gold
Broke open bars and fell on Danae:
Or a dread vision as when Semele
Sickening for love and unappeased desire
Prayed to see God's clear body, and the fire
Caught her brown limbs and slew her utterly:
With such glad dreams I sought this holy place,
And now with wondering eyes and heart I stand
Before this supreme mystery of Love:
Some kneeling girl with passionless pale face,
An angel with a lily in his hand,
And over both the white wings of a Dove.
[1-14]
Here Wilde obliquely refers to passion for exhibitionism which has been put to the blush by the simplicity of the supreme mystery of Love [11] in which God chose unto Himself a mother for His only-begotten Son with dignity and majesty. Unlike mankind, the Almighty needed no crowds to hail or glorify this world-shattering event when:
the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us [and we saw His
glory, the glory as it were of the only begotten of the Father],
full of grace and truth.
[John 1:14].
As Wilde's death took place in the year 1900, at the turn of the century, his poem might have been taken as the last word on Marian poetry of the nineteenth century.
However, Rossetti's vision shows that he put a completely different interpretation on the low-key situation that forms the background to the overwhelming Annunciation event:
The lilies stand before her like a screen
Through which, upon this warm and solemn day,
God surely hears. For there she kneels to pray
Who wafts our prayers to God - Mary the Queen.
She was Faith's Present, parting what had been
From what began with her, and is for aye.
On either hand, God's twofold system lay:
With meek bowed face a Virgin prayed between.
So prays she, and the Dove flies in to her,
And she has turned. At the low porch is one
Who looks as though deep awe made him to smile
Heavy with heat, the plants yield shadow there;
The loud flies cross each other in the sun;
And the aisled pillars meet the poplar aisle.
[1-14]
The disparity between the two poets' versions of pictures dealing with the same event highlights the diversity of the poetic experience, which is intolerant of insincerity and allows readers an insight into the poet's mind which in conversation and social interchange he or she might deny close friends.
Wilde's worship of the pomp and circumstance of pagan times when some great God . . . in a rain of gold/Broke open bars [3-4] is countered by the simplicity displayed by Rossetti, who discerns the ultimate beauty in a lily and sees no need to gild it, since in his capacity as founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood he has a reverence for all created things, which encompass the loud flies [13] along with the heaven-inspired symmetry of the aisled pillars [14] wrought by humanity's co-operation with God-given talents.
Wilde judges the kneeling girl with . . . pale face to be passionless [12], whereas to Rossetti she is the one Who wafts our prayers to God [4], which conjures up the imagery of Mary as a thurible, whence the fragrance of incense ascends to the Lord.
However, Wilde's allusion to the white wings of a Dove [14] which hovers over the girl and the angel carries a great deal more impact than does Rossetti's Dove which flies in to her [9], wince it betrays Wilde's reaching out for understanding of the symbolism embodied in the Dove, which is more striking than Rossetti's apparent certitude in this regard.
Many more poems in honour of the Virgin Mary were published in the nineteenth century and the era therefore offers a fertile field for poetic research in the genre.
Dr Luky Whittle
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