« L’habit d’emprunt » : la poésie de Gérard Macé et de Victor Segalen

Metaphorical Images of the Sacred Workshop

“…Hence it is not surprising that the poets of the Puy in these towns turned to subjects as ships, navigation instruments, and an island as poetical imagery in order to refer to the Virgin. 55 The use of everyday objects linked to artisanal production work, skills, and trade for the representation of the Virgin Mother of God can be explained as a specific use of metaphors, allegories or similes, poetically playing out the huge distance between the purity of the Virgin and the dirty manual work in a workshop, or the potential sinfulness of commerce. Another explanation has been suggested by Gérard Gros, who referred to the medieval predilection for spiritual interpretations of the Bible and of the Book of Nature as the source for the use of these metaphors: "The entire creation indicates, in a veiled manner, Mary's motherhood."…”