User:Matt Deres/Si linguis angelicis

Si linguis angelicis is an anonymous Medieval Latin poem known only from a single source, the thirteenth-century collection of poems and songs now known as the Carmina Burana. In English translations, the piece is given various titles, including The Name of the Rose and The Serenade to Flower-o'-the-Thorn, though in the original manuscript, no title is given and Si linguis angelicis is simply the first line of the text. As the seventy-seventh piece in the Burana, it is within the grouping known as "Love Songs" and is sometimes referred to as CB77.

Among scholars and translators there is some debate as to the full meaning of the poem. Read simply, it is a love song that is fairly typical among other goliardic pieces, such as those in the Burana, but some commentators have identified parts of the poem that point to it being an insincere parody. Translator David Parlett, for example, wrote: "This puzzling poem... looks at first sight like another tale of successful wooing recounted from the poet's masculine viewpoint... [b]ut it tends to take unexpected turns which may leave the modern reader in the surrealistic dilemma of uncertainty as to the ultimate intent."

Synopsis
The poem is written from the male's point of view and begins by announcing that the speaker is in a terrible predicament: a woman he has been longing for from afar is being kept from him by an old crone. Wishing to himself that the crone should just leave or die, he turns to go, only to find that the crone is indeed gone and his love stands before him. The two greet one another and the man explains that he is suffering terribly and goes on to describe the maiden's beauty at great length, comparing her to precious gems, the Virgin Mary, Blanchefleur, Helen, and Venus. She professes to suffer as well and wishes to help him, if only she knew what the problem was. Since she does not know, she offers him silver and jewels. He refuses the money and instead embraces her. The two kiss a thousand times and the poem ends with the speaker reminding his audience not to lose hope over unrequited love.

Structure
The poem consists of thirty-three stanzas, each consisting of four monorhymed lines, with every line containing a caesura.

A wide range of works are quoted, referenced, or alluded to in the poem, including the Classical Roman authors Ovid and Horace. In addition, the first stanza quotes the First Epistle to the Corinthians and the second stanza begins with the opening lines to Pange Lingua Gloriosi Proelium Certaminis, a sixth-century Latin Easter hymn attributed to Venantius Fortunatus. It has also been speculated that a reference in the eighth stanza to mundi rosa may be a punning nod to Rosamund Clifford, who was mistress to Henry II of England and the subject of medieval folklore.

The poem has attracted commentary regarding its genesis and ultimate purpose. On the one hand, it is metrically perfect and weaves such numerous references to Roman and early Christian writers that it would seem to be the work of an accomplished and well-read poet, but on the other hand the references often form a kind of mixed metaphor, mixing together the sacred and the profane in apparently clumsy ways, and the storyline appears to be mere wish fulfillment.

The mixed metaphors begin with the opening lines, which quote 1 Corinthians 13 and for which the poem is often known: Si linguis angelicis loquar et humanis ("Though I speak with tongues of men and angels — words must fail me"). That portion of Chapter 13 of the First Epistle to the Corinthians is indeed about love, but it is about Christian love (agape, i.e. charity) and not amorous love (eros, i.e. sexual attraction), for which the poet is using it. The unexpected analogies continue in the poet's comparisons of his love to various famous women from history and myth, including both the Virgin Mary and Venus, the Roman goddess of erotic love. Translator David Parlett summarized the situation thus: "To liken his beloved first to the paragon of maidenhood and then progressively down to pagan sex symbols is hardly as flattering as the poet pretends."

The quality of the story arc has likewise attracted critical commentary.