Prolific flowering of Marian verse Part 1

In England the two periods which saw some of the most prolific flowering of Marian verse were the Middle Ages and the nineteenth century, the highlights of the latter period being the Oxford Movement and the 
Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, from whose ranks the composition of much of the century's blossoming of Marian poetry stems.
 A striking point is the way English poets throughout the centuries emphasise Mary's role as the New Eve and her multiple role as daughter, spouse, sister and mother of God.

One reason why the Eve-Mary theme has provided so fruitful a field for poetry through the centuries may be the fact that the annunciation of the birth of Christ to Mary of Nazareth by the Archangel Gabriel offers so many possibilities for poetic presentation.
A number of poets have translated the 9th century Latin poem "Ave Maris Stella" (Hail, Oh Star of the Sea), repeating the Eve-Mary theme in ways that show great diversity in imitation.

The poem states inter alia that if Eva, Eve's name in Latin, is turned backwards, it spells Ave, the first part of Gabriels' salutation to Mary.

Sumens illud Ave                      Taking that Ave (greeting)
Gabrielis ore                             from Gabriel's mouth
Funda nos in pace                    establish us in peace
mutans nomen Eva                   changing Eva's name
                                        (5-8)

This has been translated in numerous ways.
In A hymn to Mary, a macaronic poem found in the Egerton Manuscript, the poet states;

All this world was forlore          lost
Eva peccatrice                           by Eve
Tyl our Lord was ybore            Till; born
De te genatrice                         from thee, mother
with Ave it went away 
                                      (19-23)

In this poem the turnabout is stated without being spelt out.
Conversely, the translation of "Ave Maris Stella" by the Franciscan Friar William Herebert (d.1333) found among seventeen pieces of translation by him is quite explicit:

Of the aungeles mouhth kald Gabriel      angel's; mouth; called
In gryht ous sette and shyld vrom            grace; establish; shield; 
       shome                                                  shame
That turnst abakward eues nome             reverses Eve's name
                                               (6-8)

A translation of the relevant section of "Ave Maris Stella", preserved at Merton College, Oxford (MS 248) reads as follows;
tornand the name of heue a-gayne (8) [turning Eve's name around].

The popularity of "Ave Maris Stella" did not wane as the centuries passed. 
The sixteenth-century Jesuit priest Robert Southwell (1561-1595) wrote in his poem The Virgins Salutation:

Spell Eva backe and Ave shall you finde.               backwards
The first began, the last reverst our harmes          evils
                                                            (1-2)

In the nineteenth century the Gabriel-Mary theme was continued. 
Edward Caswell (1814-1878) translated the poem into a version used as a hymn that was regularly sung. Titled Hail thou Star of Ocean, the relevant lines read:

Oh, by Gabriel's Ave,
uttered long ago
Eva's name reversing,
'stablish peace below.
                         (5-8)


See link for Ave Maris Stella and a beautiful rendition of music by The Daughters of Mary
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/yimcatholic/2010/10/ave-maris-stella-a-poem-and-a-prayer.html

See link for William Herebert OFM 
http://www.ualberta.ca/~sreimer/ms-course/course/herebert.htm

See link for Merton College Oxford
http://www.merton.ox.ac.uk/aboutmerton/history.shtml

See link for Robert Southwell SJ
http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/southbio.htm

See link for Edward Caswell
http://www.bartleby.com/294/527.html

*Photograph taken by Catherine Nicolette