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Mary Anne O’Neil, author of From Babel to Pentecost, is today’s guest blogger.
The most prolific
and versatile poet of the mid-twentieth century, Pierre Emmanuel composed verse
for five decades (1938-1984) in an astonishing array of forms, from epics and
love sonnets to patriotic hymn and prayers on subjects as varied as erotic love,
Catholic theology and totalitarian governments.
A
literary critic as well as a poet, Emmanuel was conscious of the devaluation
poetry had undergone over the course of the twentieth century and of the misconceptions
that had caused this decline. In his poetry,
he addresses matters of esthetics, but he also poses ethical questions, such as
the poet’s responsibility to his community.
Attuned to each decade in which he lived, Emmanuel understood the power
of poetry to clarify the human condition, to teach and persuade. His work
attests to poetry’s unmatched power to express all human experience and to the
survival of high art in twentieth-century France.
“Hymne à
la Déesse,” from his 1973 book Sophia,
illustrates Emmanuel’s ability to combine imagery from the Book of Genesis,
astrophysics, medicine, liturgical chants in this celebration of woman:
Puissance qui est Conscience en toutes choses Rien ! pôle incandescent dont l’incendie est … Pour baume ardent j’ai ton ubiquité ô mère |
Power that is Conscience Nothing! Incandescent pole whose fire is Being … For burning balm I have
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To learn more about From Babel to Pentecost or to order online, click here.
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