Curtius et la valeur du Moyen-Âge : Miranda

Il fait du Moyen-Âge, en péroraison de “The Medieval Bases”, et en le décalant un peu à la lumière tardive de Dante, un espace de la translatio, modelage original de la translatio, porteur emblématique de valeurs culturelles, littéraires – idéologie et mission littéraires que Curtius se donne, modèle, à quoi il adhère et se fait avocat :

the essential message of medieval thought, I would say [ thought here : poetry and philosophy, poetry as philosophy, while specifically philosophy turns away from poetry and attempts to gain an independence through claiming superiority ]: It is the spirit in which it restated tradition; and this spirit is Faith and Joy. (598)

Ain’t that beautiful and heart-warming, attractive?

For a poetic emblem now:

We might apply to the Middle Ages the words of Miranda in The Tempest:

O wonder,

How many goodly creatures are here!

How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,

That has such people in’t! (597)