ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the poetic imagery that addresses the ‘who’ question of human identity through visions, emblems and metaphorical conceits of the soul’s glory. Lyrical poetic conceits express the glory of innocence by transcending the boundaries of conceptual terminology and encapsulating complex philosophical notions in sensory imagery. 1 As Ricoeur says of metaphor, they rule ‘in the field of sensory, emotional, aesthetic, and axiological values’, their meaning is encapsulated in the senses they evoke and they teach by guiding the affections. 2 From the perspective of theological anthropology, the lyric mode addresses the ‘who’ question of human existence by asking, ‘who am I’? 3 In his study of evil through Job, Philippe Nemo argues that lyric is the voice of innocence. He associates the nominative ‘I’ of the internal lyric monologue with the child’s certain self-knowledge: ‘The nominative is the case of innocence.’ Nemo searches for a Christian concept of innocence by tracing, through grace, the transition from an accusative or accused sinful ‘me’ to a nominative, ‘named and hence innocent “I”’. 4