Poetry of Hadewijch

by M van Baest

The Stanzaic Poems, written by Hadewijch of Antwerp in the 13th century, are a body of 45 lyrical poems in stanzas. They are daring God-talk in the guise of courtly love songs. Hadewijch uses the linguistic style of chivalry but her poems are by no means courtly poetry. She shifts the current meaning of chivalry by transferring its context to a field of meaning focused on God. Stanzaic Poems are an exponent of the age old tradition of women's songs - of which the Song of Songs is the best known example - and as such they are an expression of a particular manner of keeping company with God: they celebrate a relationship of mutuality between partners equivalent in love. lovers: the raging desire of 'orewoet': the gentility of humankind's origin. Middle-Dutch into Modern English prose. Schillebeeckx (Peeters 1998) With an introduction by Edward

330 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1998

Reviews

[Kelsy Morrison · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed having Hadewijch’s poetry available in English. At times I wondered who the target audience of this work was, though. The translation approach is fairly literal and foreignizing, which is an approach I respect for this type of work. But then occasionally phrases are translated into highly idiomatic English, which felt very marked in contrast to the overall approach. I also don’t understand why all Biblical references were cited in Latin, especially when the Latin lines of the final stanzaic poem were translated into Latin/English.