Although the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood only began after the decline of the Oxford Movement, the ideas and ideals of the followers of the two movements became interlinked, as they had their intellect, their metaphysical leanings and a number of literary and artistic skills in common. both organisations drew their leadership and followers from among prominent theologians, artists and/or poets of their day, whose strong metaphysical leanings were frequently expressed in art and literature.
Consequently, their works came to have a marked influence on the religious tenor of English poetry of the day, and their espousal of the neglected cause of Marian poetry had the curious effect that this genre was initially enkindled not by a Catholic poet but by an Anglican one, the clergyman John Keble, whose example was followed mainly by Anglican and Protestant poets, several of whom later abandoned the Thames of the Church of England for the Roman river Tiber.
The Oxford Movement arose as the result of a concern felt among Anglicans at the stagnation of the Church of England, emphasised by the breakaway of the Methodists under Founder John Wesley. A factor which made a puzzling and even somewhat implausible contribution to the revival of Anglicanism appears to be that the romantic novels of Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) had rekindled an interest in the colourful traditions of mediæval times. Scott himself wrote a three stanza poem titled Ave Maria in honour of the Blessed Virgin which he ensconced in The Lady of the Lake (Canto IV) :
AVE MARIA
Ave, Maria, Maiden mild -
Listen to a maiden's prayer;
Thou canst hear though from the wild,
Thou canst save amid despair.
Safe may we sleep beneath thy care,
Though banished, outcast and reviled -
Maiden, hear a maiden's prayer;
Mother, hear a suppliant child.
Ave, Maria.
Ave, Maria, undefiled - 10
The flinty couch we now must share
Shall seem with down of eider piled,
If thy protection hover there.
The murky cavern's heavy air
Shall breathe of balm, if thou hast smiled -
Then, maiden, hear a maiden's prayer;
Mother, list a suppliant child.
Ave, Maria.
Ave Maria, stainless styled -
Foul demons of the earth and air, 20
from this their wonted haunt exiled,
Shall flee before thy presence fair.
We bow us to our lot of care,
Beneath thy guidance reconciled -
Hear for a maid a maiden's prayer;
And for a father hear a child.
Ave, Maria.
Several of the poem's passages, including the section dealing with the foul demons (20) are direct translations of parts of the lyrics to Schubert's musical composition "Ave Maria". From the wild haunts of nature, Scott calls to the Blessed Virgin and ascribes to her protection the ability to turn discomfort into bliss, converting the flinty couch (11) to an eiderdown (12). He indicates Mary's uniqueness by her ability to bestow safety and sleep on people who have been banished, outcast and reviled (6).
Addressing her as maiden and mother, he expresses full confidence in her ability to put to flight foul demons of the earth and air (20). The poem is effective because it describes every form of human fear and discomfort without yielding to exaggeration or despair, expresses a calm confidence in Mary's power to ease the human situation and the maternal disposition which causes her to do so.
According to Sampson (1970:555), Scott's mediæval novels "had made pre-Reformation worship strangely attractive" and caused his readers to feel a nostalgia for the innocence of their ancestors which they themselves had lost. The time was ready for a renewal and, thanks to a number of Oxford clerics and their friends who were to wield a great influence over the people of England, preparations were in place for a renascence of the Anglican religion and by implication of reverence for the Blessed Virgin Mary. Sampson (1970:555) writes:
. . . the first blast of the trumpet came from John Keble
(1792-1866), who, in the Assize Sermon at Oxford delivered
in 1833 denounced the Erastian stagnation of the Church as
national apostasy. Newman regarded Keble's sermon as the
beginning of the Oxford Movement.
In his sermon, Keble addressed Mary as the blessed Maid, Lily of Eden's fragrant shade . . . whose name all but adoring love may claim (Graef 1965:106), signifying unequivocally that in his view it was permissable to venerate the Blessed Virgin, provided that the veneration did not ferment feverishly into latria.
Although Keble was the original author of these words, it was not the first time he had used them, for he had struck his first blow for the resuscitation of Marian poetry several years earlier with the publication in 1827 of his anonymous book of verses in two volumes titled The Christian Year, which includes his poem The Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary, also known as Ave Maria. Graef (1965:106) asserts that Keble had written the first stanzas of this hymn as early as 1823, when he was inspired by the death of his mother. Keble was palpably careful to ascribe the assertion that Mary's womb was blessed when it bore Jesus Christ to its source in Luke's gospel, doubtless in order to refrain from causing scandal.
Dr Luky Whittle
Photograph by Catherine Nicolette, with thanks to the Wall Artist
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