Exposition on the Song of Songs
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Perhaps no book was more central to medieval spirituality and mysticism," writes Bernard McGinn, "or more problematic to contemporary readers, than the Song of Songs. . . Lingering Victorian attitudes towards the opposition between sex and religion find the Song's frank erotic language embarrassing and even distasteful." But in the twelfth and early thirteenth centuries, the Song of Songs was a favorite book of Cistercian monks. Bernard of Clairvaux, Gilbert of Hoyland, and John of Ford, as well as William of Saint Thierry, read it as a dialogue between Christ the Bridegroom and the human soul, the Bride.
William of Saint Thierry began composing his commentary soon after entering the Cistercian abbey of Signy in 1135. Having left behind a busy life as a Benedictine abbot and author of theological treatises, he turned to writing meditations on Scripture as the means of listening to the voice of the Beloved. It is therefore ironic that he broke off his commentary on the Song, never to return to it, to alert the Church in France to the teaching of Peter Abelard and then to compose two treatises correcting what he deeply believed were Abelard's theological errors.
"Introduction by J.-M. Déchanet vii
Preface by William of Saint Thierry 3
FIRST SONG
Prelude or Argument 21
Stanza 1: Let him kiss me with the kiss of his mouth 25
Song 1:1–3a
Stanza 2: The King has brought me into his storeroom 35
Song 1:3b
Stanza 3: I am blank but beautiful 38
Song 1:4–5
Stanza 4: Show me, O you whom my soul love 43
Song 1:6
Stanza 5: If you know not yourself 50
Song 1:7
Stanza 6: To my company of horsemen 56
Song 1:8–10
Stanza 7: While the King was at his repose 62
Song 1:11–13
Stanza 8: Behold you are fair, O my Love 72
Song 1:14–16
Stanza 9: I am the Flower of the field 86
Song 2:1–3
Stanza 10: The King brought me into the cellar of wine 92
Song 2:4–5
Stanza 11: His left hand is under my head 106
Song 2:6
Finale: I have entreated you, ye daughters of Jerusalem 111
Song 2:7–8a
SECOND SONG
Prelude or Argument 117
Stanza 1: The voice of my Beloved! 120
Song 2:8b–10a
Stanza 2: Arise, make haste, my love, my dove 131
Song 2:10b–13a
Stanza 3: Arise, make haste, my love, my Bride 134
Song 2:13b–14
Stanza 4: Catch us the little foxes 137
Song 2:15–17a
Stanza 5: Return, my Beloved! 146
Song 2:17b
Stanza 6: In my little bed by night 151
Song 3:1–2a
Stanza 7: I sought him, and I found him not 159
Song 3:2b–4
Analytic Index 165