tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34767504.post4363208501263792334..comments2023-09-18T04:55:23.825-04:00Comments on Fides Quaerens Intellectum: Ave generosa (Symphonia 17)Nathaniel M. Campbellhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01835009706332559978noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34767504.post-22818369573203909192016-01-10T20:15:34.159-05:002016-01-10T20:15:34.159-05:00Allow me to expand a little on why "piercing ...Allow me to expand a little on why "piercing gaze" is an appropriate translation for <i>pupilla</i>:<br /><br />For Hildegard, the pupil of the eye corresponds to the vision of faith, which alone can perceive the divine light of truth--for physical eyesight cannot see that light, because of the weight of sin. So she writes in <i>Liber Divinorum Operum</i> III.2.12 (my translation): "Immortal life indeed does not experience the obscuring of light like the physical eye, which only sees for certain periods of time before darkness again overtakes it—and a person suffers this because their eye is lidded by an obscuring membrane. The pupil of the eye thus represents the vision of the inner eyes, of which the flesh is ignorant, while the eyelid demonstrates the vision of the flesh, which is directed outward. And so it is in these two types of knowledge that every human work is accomplished. For the knowledge of inner sight teaches a person about divine things, even though the flesh opposes it; while blinded knowledge enacts the works of night according to the serpent’s sight, which does not see the light. As a result, the serpent also turns as many as he can away from the works of light, just as he did with Adam when he clouded the light of living knowledge within him."<br /><br />So you see, the Virgin's <i>pupilla castitatis</i> is the restoration of the light of living knowledge, a restoration of the piercing gaze of true faith achieved through the virginal chastity that kept her flesh whole and untouched by man or the taste of sin. She can gaze upon the Light that comes into the world through her womb because her eyes are unclouded by that night.Nathaniel M. Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01835009706332559978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34767504.post-38659750919349427132016-01-10T19:49:40.221-05:002016-01-10T19:49:40.221-05:00"piercing gaze" attempts to convey in po..."piercing gaze" attempts to convey in poetic English the sense of the Latin, <i>pupilla</i>, literally "pupil [of the eye]". Throughout my translations of Hildegard's <i>Symphonia</i>, I have tried to strike a balance between poetics and literal accuracy, offering, as it were, a middle ground between the two translations that Barbara Newman gives for each piece in her edition—an ultra-literal one and one whose poetry often takes flight beyond the bounds of the original.<br /><br />For comparison, Newman's literal rendering of the first verse (p. 123) is:<br />Hail, high-bron,<br />glorious, inviolate Maid!<br />You are the pupil of chastity,<br />the matrix of sanctity,<br />pleasing to God.<br /><br />And here is her poetic rendering:<br />In the pupil of chastity's eye<br />I beheld you<br />untouched.<br />Generous maid! Know that it's God<br />who broods over you.<br /><br />You can find my translations, together with musical transcriptions by Beverly Lomer and commentary on each piece, in the in-progress edition of the <i>Symphonia</i> hosted by the International Society for Hildegard von Bingen Studies: <a href="http://www.hildegard-society.org/p/music.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.hildegard-society.org/p/music.html</a>.Nathaniel M. Campbellhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01835009706332559978noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-34767504.post-20338812318673452422016-01-10T12:08:38.413-05:002016-01-10T12:08:38.413-05:00Is the translation "piercing gaze of chastity...Is the translation "piercing gaze of chastity" in v.1 truly accurate, or an interpretation of the Latin (which doesn't seem to say this)? Of course the Theotokos of Vladimir searches the heart with Love's truly terrifying gaze...basspoemssonghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12747710675392973016noreply@blogger.com