The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz

Paul Hoover, María Baranda

Description

In 1578, during months of imprisonment for his reformist beliefs, San Juan de la Cruz composed a series of narrative poems inspired by the Biblical Song of Songs—and, the story goes, a popular love song overheard from his cramped cell—that take God as the beloved. Erotically charged, initially scandalous, his mystical poetry engages with the journey of the soul through the darkest trenches of suffering and despair toward an enlightened spiritual connection with God. For hundreds of years, these poems have resonated deeply with those who search for meaning in the dark, and have influenced generations of poets, artists, and philosophers.

This bilingual edition of the Complete Poems—including “Dark Night” and both the Sanlúcar and Jaén manuscripts of “Spiritual Canticle”—presents an intimate and exceptionally collaborative new translation from María Baranda and Paul Hoover. Baranda, one of the most distinguished Mexican poets of her generation, lends her deft hand with expansive, meditative poetry. Hoover—the accomplished American poet, editor, and translator—offers his dexterity with form and the possibilities of language. The product is uniquely faithful to image and idea, and loyal to the ecstatic lyricism of this canonical text.

A volume that hums with the soul’s longing to find solace, The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz is a collection to be treasured. 

Sujets

• San Juan de la Cruz
• Siglo de Oro
• Spanish Golden Age
• Spanish literature
• Golden Age
• John of the Cross
• Song of Songs
• Spanish
• Portuguese
• Poetry
• European

Informations

• Publié par: Milkweed Editions
• Date de parution: 13 avril 2021
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781571319609
• Langue: English

Extrait

The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz
ALSO BY MAR A BARANDA
in English
If We Have Lost Our Oldest Tales Ficticia
Nightmare Running on a Meadow of Absolute Light
The New World Written: Selected Poems
ALSO BY PAUL HOOVER
Letter to Einstein Beginning Dear Albert
Somebody Talks a Lot
Nervous Songs
Idea
The Novel: A Poem
Viridian
Totem and Shadow: New Selected Poems
Rehearsal in Black
Winter (Mirror)
Poems in Spanish
Edge and Fold
Sonnet 56
Desolation: Souvenir
O, and Green: New and Selected Poems
The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz
TRANSLATED BY MAR A BARANDA AND PAUL HOOVER
MILKWEED EDITIONS
2021, English translation by Mar a Baranda and Paul Hoover
All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher: Milkweed Editions, 1011 Washington Avenue South, Suite 300, Minneapolis, Minnesota 55415. [phone]
milkweed.org
Published 2021 by Milkweed Editions
Printed in the United States of America
Cover design by Mary Austin Speaker
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First Edition
Milkweed Editions, an independent nonprofit publisher, gratefully acknowledges sustaining support from our Board of Directors; the Alan B. Slifka Foundation and its president, Riva Ariella Ritvo-Slifka; the Amazon Literary Partnership; the Ballard Spahr Foundation; Copper Nickel; the McKnight Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts; the National Poetry Series; the Target Foundation; and other generous contributions from foundations, corporations, and individuals. Also, this activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund. For a full listing of Milkweed Editions supporters, please visit milkweed.org .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: John of the Cross, Saint, 1542-1591, author. Baranda, Mar a, translator. Hoover, Paul, 1946- translator. John of the Cross, Saint, 1542-1591. Poems. John of the Cross, Saint, 1542-1591. Poems. English.
Title: The complete poems of San Juan de la Cruz / translated by Mar a Baranda, Paul Hoover.
Description: First edition. Minneapolis, Minnesota : Milkweed Editions, 2021. Bilingual edition in Spanish and English. Summary: From celebrated contemporary poets Mar a Baranda and Paul Hoover, an exciting collaborative translation of the canonical poems of San Juan de la Cruz -- Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2020044368 (print) LCCN 2020044369 (ebook) ISBN 9781571314918 (paperback ; acid-free paper) ISBN 9781571319609 (ebook)
Subjects: LCSH: John of the Cross, Saint, 1542-1591--Translations into English.
Classification: LCC PQ6400.J8 A2 2021 (print) LCC PQ6400.J8 (ebook) DDC 861/.3--dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044368
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2020044369
Milkweed Editions is committed to ecological stewardship. We strive to align our book production practices with this principle, and to reduce the impact of our operations in the environment. We are a member of the Green Press Initiative, a nonprofit coalition of publishers, manufacturers, and authors working to protect the world s endangered forests and conserve natural resources. The Complete Poems of San Juan de la Cruz was printed on acid-free 100% postconsumer-waste paper by McNaughton Gunn.
CONTENTS
S AN J UAN DE LA C RUZ
The Life
The Poetry
Translators Note
T HE C OMPLETE P OEMS OF S AN J UAN DE LA C RUZ
Noche oscura
Dark Night
C ntico espiritual (redacci n del manuscrito de Sanl car)
Spiritual Canticle (Sanl car manuscript)
C ntico espiritual (redacci n del manuscrito de Ja n)
Spiritual Canticle (Ja n manuscript)
Llama de amor viva
Flame of Living Love
Coplas del mismo hechas sobre un xtasis de alta contemplaci n
Songs Written in an Ecstasy of High Contemplation
Coplas del alma que pena por ver a Dios
Songs of the Soul That Aches to See God
Otras del mismo a lo divino
Other Verses to the Divine
Otras canciones a lo divino de Cristo y el alma
Other Songs to the Divinity of Christ and the Soul
Cantar del alma que se huelga de conocer a Dios por fe
Song of the Soul that Rejoices in the Knowledge of God through Faith
Romances
Romances
Sobre el Evangelio In principio erat Verbum acerca de la Sant sima Trinidad
Concerning the Gospel In the Beginning Was the Verb with Regard to the Holy Trinity
De la comunicaci n de las Tres Personas
Of the Communication of the Three Persons
De la Creaci n
Of the Creation
Prosigue (-H gase, pues-dijo el Padre)
It Continues (-Let it be then-said the Father)
Prosigue (Con esta buena esperanza)
It Continues (With this good hope)
Prosigue (En aquestos y otros ruegos)
It Continues (In these and other entreaties)
Prosigue la Encarnaci n
The Incarnation Continues
Prosigue (Entonces llam a un arc ngel)
It Continues (Then he called an archangel)
Del Nacimiento
Of the Birth
Otro del mismo que va por Super flumina Babilonis
By the Waters of Babylon
Glosas a lo divino (Sin arrimo y con arrimo)
Glosses on the Divine (With and without support)
Glosa a lo divino del mismo autor (Por toda la hermosura)
Gloss on the Divine (For all that s beautiful)
Del Verbo divino
Of the Divine Verb
Suma de la perfecci n
The Sum of Perfection
Monte de perfecci n
The Mount of Perfection
Acknowledgments
San Juan de la Cruz
The Life

One of the great poets of world history for the beauty and mystical spirituality of poems like Dark Night and Spiritual Canticle, which controversially depict the bond between God, the Soul, and the Church in terms of the marriage of a Husband and Wife, San Juan de la Cruz was born as Juan de Yepes y lvarez in 1542 at Fontiveros, near vila, Spain. His father, Gonzalo de Yepes, was brought up in Toledo by his uncles, prosperous silk merchants, following the death of both of his parents. The extended family was prosperous and some of its members had served in high ecclesiastical office. While on a business trip through Fontiveros, however, Gonzalo fell in love with a young woman, Catalina lvarez, whose impoverished family worked as weavers. Cut off by his uncles for marrying below his station, he found himself with no money or support, and began to work as a weaver. Twelve years later, he died of an illness and left his wife impoverished and in the care of their three sons.
Catalina s skill was to weave burato , a blend of fine silk and cotton to be purchased by the wealthy. But the market was bad and business was poor. Unable to care for all of her children, she sent Juan to live in an orphanage, where he was taught to read and write. Apprenticed successively to a carpenter, woodcutter, and printer, he proved incapable of the manual crafts and was sent to work, at the age of ten, in the sacristy of a convent in Medina del Campo. This led to a humble position collecting alms for a hospital that specialized in the free treatment of syphilis for the poor. The staff at the hospital made note of his skills at reading and sent him to a Jesuit grammar school (colegio) , where, with forty others, he studied Latin, including the works of the masters, Virgil, Horace, and Seneca. He was now on his way to the life of study, worship, and contemplation that was his true calling. However, when offered the chance to prepare for the priesthood, he slipped out of the hospital one night and pledged himself instead to the Carmelite priory of Santa Ana. This escape foreshadows a scene in his poem Dark Night, in which the Soul escapes to the one who burns in my heart by means of a secret ladder, as well as his own escape from a Carmelite priory where he was held prisoner in 1578. Taken into the Order of the Blessed Virgin at age twenty-one, Juan took the name of Fray Juan de San Matias. Hoping soon to be ordained, on the strength of his Latin he was accepted to the University of Salamanca, then one of the leading places of study in Europe, and housed in a very small Carmelite college of the larger institution. 1
It happened that the mystical poet and thinker Fray Luis de Le n was in residence at Salamanca at the time. Outspoken, Fray Luis was later to spend five years in an ecclesiastical dungeon for daring to translate the Song of Songs directly from Hebrew into Spanish. 2 The Song of Songs would also prove critical to the poetry of San Juan de la Cruz; likewise, it led to his imprisonment and torture. There is no evidence that Juan, twelve years younger than Fray Luis, studied with the great poet directly. But it would seem likely that Fray Luis influenced his later decision to adopt the Song of Songs as the basis of his devotional poetry.
While studying at Salamanca, Juan displayed a strict devotion to the teachings of the early fathers, as well as mystical theology of Dionysius the Areopagite and Boethius Consolation of Philosophy . His leaning was toward Occam and St. Bonaventura, who were favored by the Carmelites, rather than the university s emphasis on Aristotle, Aquinas, and St. Augustine. 3 Juan fasted with great discipline and would whip his shoulders to the point of bleeding. He was admired for his devotion and studiousness, but he was not well-liked because he refused to participate in small talk with fellow students. He would chastise others for the laxness of their spiritual practice, even at times his superiors.
After his ordination, Juan returned to his home in Medina to conduct his first Mass in the presence of his mother. It happened that Teresa de Jes s, later to become Santa Teresa of vila, was in Medina at the time, in the process of establishing reformed Carmelite convents. A mystical poet and spiritual leader of great importance, she persuaded him to join her movement, which emphasized the ascetic an