The Declaration of the Songs, on the exercise of love between the soul and Christ the Husband..., Spanish National Library, Madrid at Spain is culture.

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The Declaration of the Songs, on the exercise of love between the soul and Christ the Husband...

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Declaration of the Songs, on the exercise of love between the soul and Christ the Husband... Madrid © Biblioteca Nacional de España

Category

Printed documents

Date

1627

Artist

San Juan de la Cruz

Cultural background

Golden Age

Original title

Declaracion de las Canciones, que tratan del exercicio de amor entre el alma, y el Esposo Christo...

Spanish National Library
Madrid
Madrid

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Key text to highlight the connection between San Juan the poet and San Juan the spiritual guide.

The Declaration of the Songs from 1627 is one of the first editions (together with the one from Paris, 1622) that includes the poem and the comments written by San Juan to express the desire to be united with God. The text was written in several stages.

The basic poem (known as Spiritual Song) was written between 1577 and 1582, although the explanatory comments did not appear until 1584. Later on, Juan de la Cruz remodelled the entire piece, adding and restructuring stanzas or reorienting comments. The interpretation of this poem by San Juan has often been polemical because of the erotic expressiveness that is given to the text. But actually the mystery and profane love are only used as resources to depict the mystical but radical feeling of divine love.