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Unread 11-25-2011, 08:11 PM
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Chris Childers Chris Childers is offline
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I'm no expert on this poet, but the demonstratives seem telling. Ce roi victorieux and ces moqueurs gens d'armes (and later, cet Agneau and ce Christ) seem to indicate that he is meditating on a picture from the passion which is right there in front of him; along these lines, ces carmes would seem to suggest that he is doing so in a Carmelite monastery, among monks, which makes me read this poem as a kind of dramatic monologue: the poet as one face among many kneeling in a pew, silently mouthing this prayer, wishing to drench his fellow-worshipers with blood-colored tears. (Okay, that last bit is a little weird.) Anyway, as to why Carmelites, rather than Franciscans (say), two rather unsatisfactory answers spring to mind: 1. He was actually in a Carmelite church, or 2. convenient rhyme with 'armes' and 'larmes.' It would help if this were part of a sequence where Carmelites were mentioned in other poems as well.

Chris
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