Sunday, November 12, 2017

 

Asyndeton Filling Hexameters: Bernard of Cluny, De Contemptu Mundi, Book I

In Book I of Bernard of Cluny, De Contemptu Mundi, I noticed the following hexameters consisting entirely of words in asyndeton:
55 pulchra, citissima, fortia, libera, deliciosa
118 inresolubilis, invariabilis, intemerata
312 provehit, excitat, auget, identitat, efficit, unit
364 frigore, grandine, carne, libidine, morte, timore
529 lumina, tempora, frons, labra, pectora, viscera, mammae
658 dilaniabitur, excruciabitur, arripietur
772 irreparabilis, irrevocabilis, officiosus
789 pulcher, amabilis, irreparabilis, unicus, aptus
878 dat, rapit, it, fremit, opprimitur, premit, uritur, urit
1017 seditionibus, illuvionibus, igne, procellis
1018 lite, libidine, fraude, gravedine, sanguine, bellis
I don't have access to Ronald E. Pepin, ed. and tr., Scorn for the World: Bernard of Cluny's De Contemptu Mundi (East Lansing: Colleagues Press, 1991), so the line numbers above come from an online version. I haven't yet read Books II and III (please don't send supplements). For similar lines in Greek and Latin poetry see:



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