Despre lecturile mele de noapte: A History Of English Literature

Despre lecturile mele de noapte: A History Of English Literature

“I versify the truth, not poetize”- Samuel Daniel (1562-1619)

Asa cum spuneam ( scriam ) ieri seara, cand mi-am luat ramas bun de la prietenii mei de pe FB, in continuare, dupa FB, mi-am spus rugaciunile din fiecare seara-noapte.

Noaptea trecuta – si pornind de la aceasta lectura am inceput sa citesc Literatura engleza a Evului Mediu si a Renasterii, “in creierii noptii” ca sa citez expresia Iuliei Tâlvescu – am recitit Acatistul compus pentru Pregatirea Craciunului, de ieromonahul Maxim ( Maximos ) in limba engleza si ca de obicei, m-a cucerit.

Am gasit acest Acatist superb pe pagina FB a “Our Lady of Fatima Russian Byzantine Catholic Church” (San Francisco, California), care trimitea la pagina internet a manastirii “Sfanta Inviere”, sau “Holy Resurrection Monastery – Saint Nazians, Wisconsin”.

( Ca o paranteza, pe pagina Bisericii Ruse Bizantine Catolice “Maica Domnului de la Fatima” din San Francisco, California, am gasit si retete de post si multe postari interesante si un articol despre “Depresie si minte” al carui autor este un jurnalist ( care, se pare, se pregateste sa intre la manastirea “Holy Resurrection” ).

Mi-a placut opinia, punctul de vedere, felul in care vede depresia si mintea umana, un jurnalist si felul in care raporteaza mintea umana, mintea noastra, - “The Small Mind” -  la mintea lui Cristos, care este “The Big Mind” sau “The Mind of Christ”.

De altfel ma gandeam sa va arat acel articol al jurnalistului respectiv. )

Imi plac lecturile, imi plac rugaciunile, in limba romana, in franceza, in engleza, sunt foarte frumoase.

Dar acest Acatist “Akathist in Preparation for Christmas”, “The work of Maximos, a hieromonk”, un calugar de la manastirea “Sfanta Inviere” sau “Holy Resurrection” – Saint Nazianz, ( Wisconsin ) pentru Pregatirea deci a Craciunului mi-a placut foarte mult si l-am citit si recitit in aceeasi noapte.

Aveam in biblioteca o carte in limba engleza, pe care in trecut fratelui meu i-a daruit-o un vecin si fost prieten al sau, Valeriu Antonescu, cu titlul : “A History Of English Literature – The Middle Ages and the Renascence ( 650 – 1660 ) By Émile Legouis, translated from the French by Helen Douglas Irvine – Modern Times ( 1660 – 1967 ) By Louis Cazamian and Raymond Las Vergnas ( Book VIII ), Revised Edition, Bibliographies by Donald Davie and Pierre Legouis”, publicata in ( aproximativ, atunci apare primul an cronologic, cel mai vechi, dar cu mentiunea “revazut” ) 1960, apoi 1964 si 1967,  la ( editura ) J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd.

Asa incat am inceput sa citesc din aceasta carte, sa ma uit peste versuri acolo unde sunt mentionate, citate, si am constatat ca, la fel ca poetii francezi, si englezii scriau in Evul Mediu si mai tarziu, o poezie inspirata din Religie, din biblie, din viata sfintilor.

In poezia franceza a Evului Mediu, poetii – care au compus desigur in limba franceza veche – fac adesea referiri la Fecioara Maria, in special, dar si la puritate, la inocenta ( desi altfel decat englezii si mult mai putin ) cand vorbesc despre inorog, unicorn.

Poetii englezi sunt insa foarte deosebiti de cei francezi, unul din ei, atat cat am vazut eu deocamdata, a scris si versuri in limba franceza, in acelasi timp insa el nu cunostea bine limba franceza, versuri traduse in engleza, desigur.

Sunt mentionati poetii si cateva date biografice ale acestora, faptul ca au muncit mult, inca de mici copii ( de la varsta de 12 ani ) lucrau pana tarziu in fiecare zi ( pana la miezul noptii ), dar, in acelasi timp, dincolo de frumusete versurilor, dincolo de temele alese, unele versuri chiar te fac sa te gandesti asupra lor.

Puritanii englezi s-au opus romanizarii poeziei, puritanismul mi-a placut intotdeauna la englezi si de aceea m-am oprit sa citesc, desi se facusera orele 4:00 AM cand am stins lumina – “in creierii noptii” -  si m-am culcat, nici nu am simtit cum a trecut timpul, cand m-am uitat la ceas, nu mi-a venit sa cred !

Si acum iata cateva versuri din “Istoria Literaturii Engleze” mentionate mai sus si cateva date despre poeti englezi :

“George Herbert ( 1593 – 1633 ) :

The most popular of Anglican poems is George Herbert’s “The Temple” which appeared in the year after the author’s death.

The son of an admirable mother, whose “autumnal beauty” Donne celebrated, Herbert was the younger brother of the Lord Herbert of Cherbury who was a soldier, statesman, poet, and deist philosopher.

He had a briliant career at Cambridge, won the affection of James I, and had already embarked on the life of a courtier and politician, when, at the age of thirty-seven, he took orders and became rector of Bemerton, in Wiltshire, where he died three years later.

All his verses are the expression of his piety as a man and as a priest.

“The Temple” is a singular work, full of faith and fervour and also of subtlety, ornament, and pointed phrases.

Herbert’s theory is that a man should dedicate all his gifts to God’s service, that a poet should make the altar blossom with his poetry.

He was no Puritan, but valued the beauty and neatness of the church in which he officiated, and loved cheerfulness and the mirth which avoids coarseness :

“All things are big with jest ; nothing that’s plain

But may be witty, if thou hast the vein.”

He offered up to God all that was graceful and ingenious in his mind.

A most intelligent, sagacious, and penetrating observer of himself and others, and a man of wit, learning, and cultivation, he spared no means to inculcate his faith.

His profound sincerity led him to detest sermons made up of solemnity and grandiloquence.

He liked simple, homely, racy language.

The queer subtlety of which he made too much use was natural to him, part of his very mind and the outcome of the unusual association of his ideas and sequence of his images.

He is of all Donne’s disciples the one most like him.

He is the saint of the metaphysical school.

His poetry frequently offends taste, but often gives the impression of a sort of sublimity.

[...] Herbert’s characteristic is that he expresses everything by imagery, endeavours above all else to be concrete.

This constitutes his merit and also, because it sometimes leads him to dwarf an idea, a defect.

Another of his defects is that he is subtle to the point of obscurity, strange to the point of the enigmatic.

[...] The lines of his “Elixir” are deservedly included among current quotations.

For Herbert the true elixir, the stone “that turneth all to gold” is :

“In all things Thee to see,

And what I do in any thing

To do it as for Thee.”

The third verse runs :

“A man that looks on glass

On it may stay his eye ;

Or if he pleaseth, through it pass ;

And then the heaven espy ;

And the fifth :

“A servant with this clause

Makes drudgery divine ;

Who sweeps a room as for Thy laws

Makes that and th’action fine.”

The poem called “The Quip” is all life, significance, and surprises.

Its twenty-four lines resume all Herbert’s life, his resistance to the ironical appeals of the World, Beauty, Money, Glory, and Wit, who in turn ask him why he shuns them.

His only reply is :

“But thou shalt answer, Lord, for me”.

Richard Lovelace ( 1618 – 58 ) was neither so correct as Carew nor so natural as Suckling.

This most handsome Cavalier whose figure fascinated the ladies, this faithful follower of the king who was twice imprisoned and finally ruined for the cause, so that he ended his short life in the most abject poverty, was a very unequal poet.

In his “Lucasta” ( 1649 ) the cold, hyperbolical compliments of the degenerate sonneteers occur side by side with Donne’s obscure extravagance.

The lack of art in his work is as apparent as its mannerisms, and almost all of it has been forgotten.

But it was his fortune to make two or three songs in which his sense of honour is in manly alliance with his love.

It was he who wrote to Althea from prison :

“Stone walls do not a prison make,

Nor iron bars a cage ;

Minds innocent and quiet take

That for an hermitage.

If I have freedom in my love,

And in my soul am free,

Angels alone that soar above

Enjoy such liberty.”

It was he who wrote “to Lucasta on going to the wars” :

“I could not love thee, dear, so much,

Loved I not honour more.”

Because of these few short poems, Lovelace has the glory of having expressed the ideal of the Cavalier. “

( “A History Of English Literature” by Emile Legouis,... )