Poetry Is Our Glass Menagerie: Christian Culture Lecture Series

Poetry is society’s looking glass into the past.

As a member of the audience, I was stuck by the beauty of this argument. To be able to decipher the past through the rhythms and cadences of great writing must be, if not exhilarating at the very least, an aesthetically pleasing job. Menocal’s presentation of Medieval Spain’s tumultuous history (to put it lightly) opened my eyes to the beauty of language. As the daughter of a historian, I am not unaware of the social, religious and political history of the country; however, the professor’s discussion was enlightening. As she discussed the influence of Moorish customs and art, I found it fascinating to see their cultural magnificence embodied in cathedrals throughout Spain. In addition to the cathedrals, Menocal bring to surface the magnificence of the Arab written word. I guess that this is what is so fascinating. At a time when the vernacular, Latin, was being pushed and prodded; at a time when it could be considered a crime to have a Jewish ancestry; Arabic was more popular than any other language. So much so, that the popular books and romances of the day were written almost exclusively in this language. The question Menocal poses is, “Why?” Why was Arabic so popular? Why did families learn this language instead of the language they were hearing in Mass almost every day? Maybe in rebellion. Possibly because these medieval people felt a deeper tie to Arabic and its history. One way to find out, Menocal says, is to read poetry. Let its beauty, its life, its permeating words take each of us back to discover for ourselves.

This is just a little photograph that was displayed at the event that really spoke to me of the aesthetics I was speaking about earlier: