Signifying the Coming of Christ in The Advent Lyrics

Abstract

Old English verse uses “ritual signs” as an expressive component that complements the hybridity of written oral-connected idioms and of the oral-literate versions of these idioms that benefit from metaphorical analysis. By expanding the theory of Immanent Art to the arena of ritual, it is possible to create a methodology for tracing ritual signification in works that have strong ties to oral traditions. This chapter suggests that just as hybrid, oral-related texts may resound for their audiences with the extra-textual associations created by oral metonyms, likewise such texts may resound with liturgical associations triggered by ritual metonyms. An aesthetic complexity that is not apparent when solely using traditional modes of literary analysis becomes apparent when applying the lenses of oral and ritual theory. Chapter 7 explores the aesthetic and expressive significance of ritual signs in the Advent Lyrics (Christ I) by comparing and contrasting the Latin antiphons for Advent with their Old English translations, a process that exposes the productive interplay of literate, oral, and ritual modes of signification in the Advent Lyrics.