tim,
     there is that one, almost adventitious, contrapunto in francis'
cantico; but, as a unity it is an exhuberant affirmation, a great "yea!" to
life,  sensual existence.   pound's is the diametric opposite,
contemplates with dread the purveyance of "rosy fingered dawn" & co, the
celebratory sensuality of the pagan classics.  so they should,
naturally, be titled opposite...as l'allegro & il penserosso, sunny south
vs frozen north, eh?
      further, the "thought" that "troubles sleep" being nihilism,
... first amendment commodification & commerce of "the word",
there, for puritan piety, is a spiritual wasteland,
... and the sun, a principle of dehydration & death.
an existence the aged and faithful simeon would,
reasonably, wish rather to depart

thence, perhaps, an ironic "cantico del sole"...postlapsarian,
... of modernity?

but...still seems a bit of a stretch, no?

bob

----- Original Message -----
From: Tim Romano <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, January 19, 2001 10:30 PM
Subject: Re: cantico del sole


> Bob,
> The title.   I'd venture the following explanation:  the Nunc Dimittis
(the
> Song of Simeon to which you refer) has long been a prayer which is said at
> the end of the day; this allusion, together with "It troubles my sleep",
> establishes the dramatic context: it's bedtime.  But the prayer ("Now
> lettest Thou thy servant depart in peace") is also associated with the end
> of life, and has come to be associated with the Departed, with death and
> dying.  So there's a death-wish here.  Death is, in a sense, an answer to
> the vexations of the man, for it brings "peace" to the troubled soul.  But
> the death-wish is intertwined with the guilt-ridden puritanical mind,
which
> fears dying in a state of sin and damnation. This guilt/punishment complex
> sheds some light on the title.  In Saint Francis's Cantico del Sole one
> finds this line:  "guai a quelli che morranno ne le peccata mortali" --
woe
> to those who die in in mortal sin. That's how the title is connected
> thematically to the poem.
> Tim