Читать книгу Gesammelte Aufsätze zur romanischen Philologie – Studienausgabe. Herausgegeben und ergänzt um Aufsätze, Primärbibliographie und Nachwort von Matthias Bormuth und Martin Vialon онлайн

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We shall now give a more detailed analysis with some comments.

The cumulated vocatives of the first verses are an old form, well known in Greek and Latin classical poetry, revived by early Christian hymns.69 Yet, no other specimen may easily be found so packed with content and so powerfully condensed; it is as magnificent as an inscription on a monument of victory,70 and as sweet as a poem of love. All its oxymoraOxymoron are traditional formulas, and all of them refer to the first part of the eulogy. Even umile ed alta, in this passage, is not meant in a general sense (as is magnificenza in the second part), but refers to Mary’s attitude during the annunciation. According to tradition, the Virgin is humble, for she immediately submits to God’s will (LukeLukas (Evangelist) 1, 38; cf. p. 133); she is alta not only because she is benedicta inter mulieres, i. e. in an objective sense, but also through her own attitude, which I prefer to characterize not in my own words, but in those of Saint Bernard:71