ENGL 204 Lecture 15: 15
8 Jun 2018
School
Department
Course
Professor
The Story of Solomon
-Sequence of love poems
-Pretty erotic ones at that
•Not something you tend to find in sacred text
•People tend to read it allegorically
-Moralisé : moralized
-People have tried to read it as Israel’s relationship to God
•Medieval times ; Christ’s relationship to the people, or the people with the Church
-Everything but actual human sexuality
-God is not mentioned at all in this book
-Allegorical interpretations are not the source of its popularity
•People read it for the poetry and because the topics relate to their own sexuality
and desires
-The love of a woman for a man
-She is completely unabashed by her longing and desire
•Is this a feminist voice or is it a man’s desire projected on a female character?
-Blazon: the itemization of the body of the beloved
•Chapter 4: thy hair = doves, thy eyes = sheep, thy lips…
•A cataloguing of a lover stopping at each feature and finding it beautiful
-Another example: the woman doing it for the man
•Chapter 5, verse 11: his cheeks = spices, his lips, etc…
•Cornucopia of sensual imagery
-Tastes, smells, touch…
-The physical and private relationship between the two
•They keep trying to find a place to be alone
-Very cyclical: it slows down and then the desire ramps up again towards the end
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Document Summary
Pretty erotic ones at that: not something you tend to nd in sacred text, people tend to read it allegorically. People have tried to read it as israel"s relationship to god: medieval times ; christ"s relationship to the people, or the people with the church. God is not mentioned at all in this book. Allegorical interpretations are not the source of its popularity: people read it for the poetry and because the topics relate to their own sexuality and desires. The love of a woman for a man. Blazon: the itemization of the body of the beloved: chapter 4: thy hair = doves, thy eyes = sheep, thy lips , a cataloguing of a lover stopping at each feature and nding it beautiful. Another example: the woman doing it for the man: chapter 5, verse 11: his cheeks = spices, his lips, etc , cornucopia of sensual imagery.
