One of the followers of Dante Gabriel Rossetti who was also a friend and correspondent of the poet Hopkins and a convert to Catholicism, Coventry Patmore [1823-1896], started off his poetic career with contributions to the Pre-Raphaelite periodical 'Germ'.
Hopkins called Patmore's collected volume of poetic works 'a good deed done for the Catholic Church and another for England, for the British Empire' [Sampson 1970: 601].
Divine Silence
For a long time Patmore worked on an ambitious Marian poetry project which never came to fruition but for which he made 'copious notes' [Page 1933:130]. Half of it was to be titled:
The Marriage of the Blessed Virgin. It would have been a poem about a marriage that was perfect, and his idea was [1933:135]:
. . . simply that of the only perfect marriage. All allusion
to Christian doctrine should be avoided . . . and some,
especially my sisters, say, What can Joseph see to admire in
such a simple child? . . . Perhaps the only personal
descriptions of Mary should be in the criticisms of Joseph's
female relations.
Year later Patmore abandoned his project [Page 1833: 144], feeling 'it would be impossible . . . without . . . breaking in upon the Divine Silence which hangs over the subject like the speckless sky over a landscape.' One little poem remained, however:
REGINA COELI
Say, did his sisters wonder what could Joseph see
In a mild, silent little Maid like thee?
And was it awful, in that narrow house,
With God for Babe and Spouse?
Nay, like thy simple female sort, each one
Apt to find Him in Husband and in Son,
Nothing to thee came strange in this.
Thy wonder was but wondrous bliss:
Wondrous, for, though
True Virgin lives not but does know,
(Howbeit none ever yet confess'd,)
That God lies really in her breast,
Of thine He made His special nest!
And so
All mothers worship little feet,
And kiss the very ground they've trod;
But ah, thy little Baby sweet,
Who was indeed thy God!
[1-18]
By means of his informal introduction Patmore captures the essential outward simplicity of the Blessed Virgin Mary's circumstances.
As a mild, silent little Maid [2] she could not be expected to give an impression of majesty.
Yet she freely accepted the invitation to be the mother of God, surely the most awesome responsibility ever offered to any woman and faced it unflinchingly.
There is an implied contrast in the description of the narrow [3] house which accommodated the immensity of the Divinity.
In this line, the word awful [3], could either mean a colloquial expression or instead mean filled with awe and majesty.
Patmore therefore, having first created the impression that Mary was nothing more than a shy child, immediately rectifies this perception by placing into focus her privileged position in surroundings made sacred by the presence of God Himself.
Simple hearts and incalculable grandeur
The poet extols the virtue of chastity in womanhood itself before applying it in a more profound measure to the Blessed Virgin in whose breast God made his special nest [13].
Again we find the juxtaposition of the tenderness of small simple hearts and places with the incalculable grandeur of God.
The poem culminates in the final quatrain by comparing the lot of all mothers and their devotion to their children.
Very effective is the poet's almost awkward exclamation of tenderness for Mary's little baby sweet/who was indeed (her) God [18], which says more in conclusion than a detailed and reasoned argument might have done, since the very concept of Christ's infancy is enough to provoke tenderness in the heart of the believer and therefore requires little or no further illumination.
Dr Luky Whittle
Why not listen to Regina Coeli: Breviary Hymns
http://kpshaw.blogspot.ie/2013/03/regina-caeli.html
Regina Coeli: Say did his sisters wonder - Coventry Patmore - Page 1949:467
With thanks to Kpshaw.BlogSpot
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