Lyric Allegories

En la misma caja que contenía los manuscritos de los Mitógrafos Borgoñinos había unas hojas sueltas, desordenadas y sin numerar con texto escrito en inglés. Imaginé que no tendrían nada que ver porque estaban escritas con máquina y en otra lengua; pero me llevé una sorpresa cuando, habiendo volcado la caja por accidente, encontré una hoja que parecía ser la portada mientras ordenaba el conjunto de papeles. Su título parecía, al menos, sugerente: “Scholia on the Burgundinian Mythographers”. El texto contiene comentarios sobre las historias narradas por los Mitógrafos Borgoñinos y, además, algunas secciones dedicadas a tratar temas específicos. Una de estas secciones, intitulada «Lyric Allegories», da cuenta de la interpretación alegórica que hace el mitógrafo Primero sobre un poema escrito por Sísifo de Maule y la compara con la interpretación que hace el mitógrafo Tercero sobre el Himno al Liceo. El autor de estos comentarios se identifica como Domenicus y asegura que sus antepasados pertenecieron a la Gens Venerea. A continuación, me limitaré a reproducir sus palabras en lugar de resumirlas, puesto que, de alguna manera, él estuvo haciendo el mismo ejercicio del que me estoy haciendo cargo ahora.

While reading the tales by the Two Burgundinian Mythographers, we find many times the same subject written from a different perspective. But we also find sometimes different subjects enlightened with a same category or interpretation. This is the case of a poem written by Sisyphus of Maule and the Anthem to the Lyceum. The Mythographer A takes the text of Sisyphus and adds some commentaries to the already clear allegories in this poem. The Mythographer B, on the other hand, tries to give an allegorical explanation to the Anthem to the Lyceum, reading it line after line. Both writers quote the whole texts they comment, but seem to ignore —intentionally or not— some important sources for their interpretations, so they give a reading of these poems with no connection to other literary works, even though they are almost evident. This is specially truth in the case of the Mythographer A analising the poem by Sisyphus of Maule, for it is clearly inspired on the Miracles of Our Lady by Gonzalo de Berceo. Let us read it so that we have an idea about this.

Mis buenos camaradas, quien soisme poco ajenos,
dadme soplo y aliento para dar conoceros
mi buena intencïón, que es hablar, compañeros,
de generalidades por no perder el tiempo.

Primo os quiero narrar cómo hoy fui en el Liceo
y, entrando, fui atado por pasados recuerdos;
pronto me transportaron de allí do estaba cuerdo,
lleváronme de allí, como estando en süeños.

Encontreme lüego en un muy verde prado,
cubïerto de flores, inundado de pájaros,
muy gratas avecillas y un viento moderado,
con árboles graciosos, mecidos con cuidado.

Los pájaros cantaban un canto deleitoso,
que alegrara a cualquiera, aun poco dichoso;
un arroyo corría y atravesaba todo,
portando vida en sí y un ruido delicioso.

Las sombras de los árboles brindaban buen lugar
para el hombre cansado, para el hombre sin paz;
había una gran fuente, hermosa por demás,
en el medio del prado, no ubicada al azar.

Yo fui maravillado por esta bella forma,
con incontables lágrimas acrecenté las ondas
del amoroso río y me senté a la sombra
de una palma muy bella, do tuve mi congoja.

Los aquellos recuerdos, los que me condujeron,
juntáronse conmigo y acordaron entre ellos
de regresarme en mí y explicarme el suceso
tan bueno y tan dichoso que presencié en mi sueño.

Me dijeron, primero, que aquel hermoso prado
era el nuestro Liceo, aquel que tanto amamos;
las flores son virtudes de buenos educandos,
que crecen por amor, cariño no igualado.

Los pájaros que cantan, las gratas avecillas,
son exalumnos piando hermosas cancioncillas;
los árboles robustos son las profesorcillas
y nuestros profesores, los cuales nos cuïdan.

El arroyo que vi era la educación,
la cual da vida a todo en nuestra institución;
la fuente, ya por último, es la buena instrucción,
conocimiento ella era, que no otra construcción.

Lo dicho, compañeros, es de belleza tal,
que no me atreveré llegarlo a ensuciar
con otra narración muy fuera de lugar,
mejor aguardaré un tiempecillo más.

We can realize immediately that these verses are inspired on those of Gonzalo de Berceo and, also like these, they include an interpretation about the images shown in the same poem. Sisyphus of Maule was the nom de plume used by an alumnus, though we cannot be sure whether he was still attending the Lyceum or not when writing these lines, and it does not occur in any other place—so the poems quoted by the Mythographer A are the only evidence we have to work on. It is said that he lived in the same house where we can find now the “La Plata” hotel, in Maule Street, just a few steps from the Lyceum. From the lines above, we can guess that he had attended the Castilian course with teacher Sea Ribbed Mussel and read her long guide about Spanish Literature of the Middle Ages.

Writing eleven stanzas in the fourfold way, he invokes his own classmates in order to give them his tale. This is a curious way to use the topic of exordium, for he is asking help to the same people who are going to receive his narration and the usual is that the helper already knows the story and is not the listener to whom the narrator is speaking. Another detail here is that the poet claims he is going to talk about general affairs, but he actually tells a specifical story and avoids to tell something else because he does not want to put another less attractive text besides what he has already written.

The author writes five stanzas to talk about his experience in a locus amœnus and four to explain what he wanted to show through this poetical image. He shows us how he visits the Lyceum and is tied by old memories—this could mean that he was already an alumnus and not a student, and how his consciousness was altered by them. It is clear that there is an emotional link in him to keep and summarize by writing this poem. After introducing the subject, he describes the place containing flowers, birds, wind and trees, a creek, a fountain and also a palm tree. The palm tree appears as an innovation for the common images in the locus amœnus, but is almost surely related to a Chilean Wine Palm that has grown in front of the Lyceum. With this brief description concluded, the poet says that the memories explained him the meaning of what he had seen before. The result is an allegorical representation of the Lyceum as an organic system in which teaching and love stand as the main supports for the whole institution, according to the interpretation of the Mythographer A. He adds that flowers and birds appear as symbols of fondness while the creek and the fountain are representations of teaching. Finally, he proposes trees, which represent teachers according to the poem, as mixed symbols pointing to both love and education.

Mythographer A states that the Lyceum includes most of aspects of life in it and that would be the best explanation for this laudatory poem. He understands Lyceum as a place where to find knowledge, arts, sciences, humanities and virtues living together and nursing as well as nourishing the students, future worthy men for a developing world society.

The Anthem to the Lyceum is analysed by Mythographer B through a close reading of its text, which we show below.

Caminito sonoro, Liceo,
a conquista mayor por ti vamos:
levadura de hostias seremos
y latido de ensueño sagrado.

Caminito sonoro de pasos
agitados en ansias de rumbos,
mano abierta tendida al milagro,
claridad de semilla en el surco.

Ala nueva, enarcada de ensayo,
fuente clara del agua vertida.

Ala nueva, enarcada de ensayo,
del empuje abrigado en su cuenco
voz en busca de un timbre más claro
y un futuro lenguaje más bueno.

Del que exprese el amor de la espiga,
toda larga de flor y de grano,
y la blanca emoción de la harina
y la masa en los panes cristianos.

Ala nueva, enarcada de ensayo,
fuente clara del agua vertida.

Fuente clara del agua vertida
a ser ritmo encendido en la sangre
a poder ser visión y pupila
y a labores de huella y de cauce.

We observe immediately the coincidence between the two poems because of the images of the bird (“new wing”) and the fountain. Mythographer B points out how the very first lines of this Anthem claim towards a trascendent mission for the Lyceum and its community, for they are connected to a “bigger conquest” and also to divine affairs. He continues saying that second stanza focuses on the effort made by teachers and students in order to achieve impossible (with a “hand opened to miracle”) and to develope the new spirits in the fertile ground of the Lyceum. The third stanza, according to Mythographer B, states that the student experiences a new life within the Lyceum and that is why his wing is taking the shape of an arc and becomes a fountain through which new water is going to pass. This experience leads him to look for the best in any field, mainly the sciences, humanities, arts and virtues—so that he wants to express this whole improvement with a better speech. Following this, the Anthem focuses on the emotional, spiritual and moral potential of the student, who is encouraged by the traditions of the Lyceum to drive his soul’s abilities up to its highest point. The mythographer adds that this stanza shows us the most beautiful lines of the Anthem: “y la blanca emoción de la harina / y la masa en los panes cristianos”, which, according to him, go further the Christian symbols they are involved in to reach a universal meaning of men as creatures of incredible hearty power. He continues explaining that the final stanza makes clear the indelible lines drawn by the Lyceum on its students, who will call it their “Alma Mater” instead of doing so with their college and will claim this place to have been their college, because it is also called the “Slaughterhouse University”. There is a kind of pact or baptism tiding them for their lifetimes to the Lyceum. Finally, Mythographer B guesses the possibility of another stanza to have existed at some time because he says to have worked with one of the original manuscripts of the Anthem and he testifies to have seen a strikenthrough line which reads “A la...” after the final canonical stanza. Anyway, we have no other evidence about such a detail.

As we can see, Mythographers A and B can approach subjects not only by supporting different points of view, but also by sharing similar methods. The election of an allegorical approach appears to be a favourite way to read lyric texts for both authors, as we can find some isolated examples in other passages of their texts. Probably they had teaching goals when doing this or just wanted to offer an easy reading to their readers. In any case, we appreciate the intention of giving a lightened way to access the poems they analyse.