The Dramatised Word of God in Angelus Silesius’ Epigrams

ABSTRACT: Angelus Silesius (Johannes Scheffler) is the author of the famous Cherubinic Pilgrim (1675), a book of mystical epigrams. In the preface to this book he gave expression to his poetological awareness, when he called himself the “author” (“Urheber”) and distinguished this from the “person of such a man” (“Person eines solchen Menschen”) who has been melted into God and was as rich as God – the person that Silesius gave voice to in his poetry. Linked to this idea of a person presenting certain views in epigrams is the concept of the world as a theatrum mundi, where everyone has a role to play on a scene viewed by God. I believe that Scheffler applied this idea to his poetry; I will show how the category of dramatised dialogue gives his epigrams a new meaning – they become the expression of a polyphonic polylogue, of which God is the composer.

Krystyna Wierzbicka-Trwoga works at the University of Warsaw, Poland, where she specializes in comparative literature of the early modern period. Main fields of interest: “sacred poetry” of the 17th century (meant to make God present in verse, based on the theological idea of Logos); genre studies; history of translations from German into Polish; cultural anthropology. Member of the Polish Comparative Literature Association. Translator of German literature and academic writing.