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Document Details : Title: Poetry and Penance in Sidronius De Hossche's Lacrymae Sancti Petri Author(s): GLOVER, Adam Journal: Humanistica Lovaniensia Volume: 73 Date: 2024 Pages: 541-575 DOI: 10.2143/HLO.73.0.3294207 Abstract : This article examines a sequence of elegies entitled Lacrymae Sancti Petri by the Flemish Neo-Latin poet Sidronius De Hossche (1596-1653). Besides its obvious debt to the poetry of classical antiquity (especially the Ovidian elegy), De Hossche’s collection also fits comfortably within the tradition of 'tears poetry' that flourished in the wake of the Council of Trent. This article explores the interaction of these two traditions. It makes two central claims. First, De Hossche portrays Peter as a Christianized version of the Ovid of the Tristia and Ex Ponto. But, second, because De Hossche is acutely aware of the moral and theological risks entailed by his imitation of the Ovidian elegy, his approach takes the form of a sophisticated dialectical procedure through which he simultaneously appropriates and critiques the Ovidian narrative of sin and exile by inviting us to compare it invidiously with his own – superior – account of Peter’s penance and reconciliation. |
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