ANTIQUE AND MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS IN CARMINA BURANA Cover Image

ANTIČKI I MITOLOŠKI MOTIVI U ZBIRCI CARMINA BURANA
ANTIQUE AND MYTHOLOGICAL MOTIFS IN CARMINA BURANA

Author(s): Tomislav Čanković
Subject(s): Cultural history, Poetry, Other Language Literature, 6th to 12th Centuries, 13th to 14th Centuries, Theory of Literature
Published by: Hrvatsko filološko društvo
Keywords: goliards; Carmina Burana; medieval Latin poetry; mythological motifs; Ovid;

Summary/Abstract: This paper discusses the function, purpose, place and formal characteristics of the Greek and Roman mythological motifs in the poems that are part of Carmina Burana, a medieval collection of poetry dating from the first half of the 13th century. Different relations established between the aforementioned motifs and lyrical subjects are also examined, as well as how these motifs fit into the context of the individual poem and the entirety of Carmina Burana. The paper focuses exclusively on the motifs which belong to the ancient Greek and Roman traditions, and not on those of the Judeo-Christian provenance, although the latter are numerous in their own right. Also, as Publius Ovidius Naso is often regarded as the main influence on the goliards, traces of his works and militaristic concepts of love visible in the poems of Carmina Burana are also highlighted and examined. The focus of this paper is on those poems which belong to the basic thematic elements usually attributed to the goliards, including tavern, wine, gambling, physical love and satirical and anticlerical overtones.

  • Issue Year: 2020
  • Issue No: 1-2
  • Page Range: 73-113
  • Page Count: 41
  • Language: Croatian