So this is pretty late. Sorry! Break threw me off and I only just thought to check, I apologize to anyone who was looking to get their comments in early this weekend.
I found the readings on Julian of Norwich to be uplifting. As a person who's not at all religious, I still couldn't help but admire her devotion and the clarity of her beliefs. I can't imagine what would drive someone to live as an anchorite other than absolute, pure devotion to their religion. I mean I rarely ever come out of my room, but at least I have internet access. I do have to question whether the effects of borderline-solitary confinement on Julian's sanity may have been a factor in her experience of religious visions, but the contents of those visions and the way she presents them make it hard to argue that they don't have value.
Of all the visions we read about, my personal favorite is definitely the hazelnut metaphor. I really like the idea of representing the universe as something very small and precious. Having some knowledge of medieval cosmology, I think this is actually even more impactful to a modern reader, as our understanding of the scale of the universe is so different. The religious implication that it all exists by the love of God is secondary to me, but I still find it a heartwarming thought, and I appreciate the eloquent simplicity with which she presents it. Despite (or perhaps because of?) the fact that Julian's entire world was a small cell and she had no understanding of just how far away the stars were, she managed to present a philosophical perspective on existence that I somehow still find extremely relatable.
I also found Julian's use of Old English really interesting. It gives her a sort of common appeal that might be lost on modern readers unaware of the Norman Conquest (which is sad, but this is what public education does to people). While she was writing 300 years later, I'm going to assume that she was using this terminology in spite of the relatively recent influx of French and Latin words and phrases into the English language. I doubt it was political but it speaks to common English people possibly more than it would to the Norman-descended nobles. It was also fun running into new (or I should say old) words and trying to figure out what they meant. I'm a bit proud of myself for recognizing the word "sely" as being a cognate of "seelie," and Wiktionary even seems to back me up on it. Yay?
I really appreciate your reference to Julian's mental state, and therefore her visions, perhaps as a result of her near-solitary confinement. While reading Hildegard and Julian, I was overcome with intense curiosity as to the precise cause of those visions. Was it a result of underground chemical emissions, a cause for the mad prophecies of Oracles at Delphi? Or was it the result of brain activity exacerbated by environmental circumstances? I would love to watch a documentary on this where people more educated than I figure this out.
ReplyDeleteI found myself also wondering if Julian’s visions resulted from her enclosure for such a long time. Even though I’ve commented before that I found her readings boring, I do have a certain respect for her vocabulary and style of writing. I didn’t think of her writing as relating to the common people more so than the upper classes. With this in mind, I’d say Julian was reaching towards a larger audience when writing of her visions, hoping to inspire the commoners.
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