THE WOMAN, AS THE EMBODIEMENT OF LOVE, IS SUNG IN THE SECULAR VERSES OF HACOB MEGHAPART’S BOOK OF 13

ABSTRACT

The article presents the poems of Hovhannes Tlcurantsi, released in the Book of Songs, published in 1513 by the Armenian printing pioneer named Hakob Megapart. The Book of Songs is extremely valuable because Tlcurantsi’s poems about love were first published there. In fact, Hakob Megapart introduced them into a wider scientific circulation in accordance with the era of the Great Italian Renaissance. And for the first time, the article mentions the poems, which tell about the medieval poet, who values earthly life and describes female beauty and love.

АННОТАЦИЯ

В статье представлены стихи Ованеса Тлкуранци, опубликованые в “Песеннике”, напечатанном в 1513 году армянским первопечатником Акопом Мегапартом. Ценность Песенника” состоит в том, что именно в нем впервые были опубликованы стихи о любви Тлкуранци. Фактически, Акоп Мегапарт ввел их в более широкий научный оборот в соответствии с эпохой Великого итальянского Возрождения. И впервые в статье упоминаются те стихи, где средневековый поэт ценит земную жизнь, описывает женскую красоту и любовь.

Keywords: the Book of Songs, Middle Ages, Hovhannes Tlcurantsi, a love song, the love of life, a woman.

Ключевые слова: песенник, средневековье, Ованес Тлкуранци, песня о любви, любовь к жизни, женщина.

One of the greatest artistic values created in the history of mankind is medieval Armenian poetry, which has had masters of solemn and profound speech since Grigor Narekatsi. The roots of medieval Armenian poetry are deep. Medieval lyric poetry is the Armenian spirit, the Armenian identity; it is the real victory of the Armenian spirit in world history, i.e., this is V. Brusov’s assessment of medieval lyric poetry [5]. Under the veil of religion, medieval writers raised secular topics, referred to human being and their feelings. In the first Book of Songs of secular and spiritual songs, there are also the poems of the medieval poet Hovhannes Tlkurantsi, where the woman became an inspiration for the creator, acting as a divine gift. The Book of Songs is a fiction book, a wonderful collection of secular and spiritual songs, including works by medieval Armenian poets such as Grigor Narekatsi, Frik, Hovhannes Tlkurantsi, Mkrtich Naghash and others. It is one of the five books published by the first Armenian printing pioneer Hacob Meghapart. It was printed in 1513. This Book of Songs is important because Tlkurantsi’s love poems are published there for the first time. In fact, Hacob Meghapart puts them into a wider scientific circulation. The year of 1513 coincides with the Great Italian Renaissance, where the soul and the body come together. It is not accidental that H. Meghapart entitled his Book of Songs as ‘This is the Book of Songs of soul and body.

In his secular poems a medieval lyrical poet values earthly life. The cult of the real world is poetically embodied in the praise of female beauty and love, the impression left by them, and the power of their influence. Tlkurantsi pushes a man to love life; he gives a new vitality through a woman and love.  We find the poems full of love in the Book of Songs of the soul and body of Hacob Meghapart. He was the publisher of the first books in Armenian letters, where every poem is still moving and causes aesthetic pleasure. In the song of love by Tlkurantsi, embedded in his Book of Songs, there is elegance and emotion, every image, every word that the poet dedicates to a woman is touching. Tlkurantsi honors the woman, even mentioning that she is loved even by God. The poet poem begins with ‘A thousand Josephs are your servants’:

‘Lily, basilica, and violet, as well as water lily,  rose in the bosom.

Immortal apple and quince, pomegranate, and orange and red rose. Your lap is a paradise of immortality, a paradise with immortal fruit’ [1, p. 79].

The Book of Songs is cognitively valuable; the poems of Tlkurantsi reveal human feelings, emotions and generalize many features of love psychology. In these poems, the infinitely rich mental world of a loving person becomes as clear as a mirror, as well as the woman who colors and fills that world with love. There is infinite elegance and emotional saturation, for example, in the poem It Shines like the Sun. The woman we meet here is exemplary of the best creatures, she is beautiful and enchants the poet, makes him indulge in cosmic mystery with lofty ideas. The poet one hand admires the beauty of the woman, once on the other looks at the sky to understand the mystery of charm and enchant by a creature created out of the earth. The love singer either begs pardon, or merges with the immortal essence of the universe, the universe where the existence of love is acceptable and blessed:

“You are an example of the best, and no mother gave you birth.

White forehead and eyes, light face with courtesy and kindness.

You throw rose with your stringed lips, you break fortresses with your swing neck.

You are beautiful in every way; nobody can be just like you.

But what can I do, if there is no issue, I am in the midst of mortal sin.

I look at you, I look at Him who created you out of earth” [1, p. 79]. ^[1]

The love singer Tlkurantsi praises the beauty of woman freely and with impetuosity; moreover, he claims that God created woman for love, so love is God-given, it is specific even to God. 

God-given woman is loved either by man or by God. Love is in the essence of a man and the woman was created to be loved. In such lines we find the justification by a love poet of the right of lyric poetry existence:

“You are an example of the best creatures; either God loves you or a man” [1, p. 78].

Each of Tlkurantsi’s poems included in the Book of Songs is a gift of love, each line shows how perfect the feeling and image of beauty are in the poet. What could be more charming and enchanting than spring sun, the moon in bright autumn, the flowers more fragrant than incense? Such comparisons are inexhaustible in the poems of the love singer; they create impressive images of female beauty, as he expresses the happy tenderness and harmony of the feelings and emotions of the loving hearts. In the poems of Tlkurantsi, a woman gives life, her lap is a paradise of immortality, her appearance heals the sick, a person next to her will neither die nor grow old.

The poem “Come and see, come and see, my beautiful face” is one of the greatest artistic values of medieval Armenian secular literature, where a woman is honored and glorified, her role is valued:

“Come and see, come and see, my beautiful face” glory and honor to your Creator,

You come from the Garden of Eden, blessed is your name.

Come and see, sun of spring, Come and see, bright moon of autumn,

Your sight is a doctor to the sick, health to the fever.

Your lap is the paradise of immortality, to turn away the emaciated soul,

Not to die, not to grow old, not to turn yellow on the face[1, p. 75].  

In the poems of Tlkurantsi, the rich mental states of the beauty and joy of love, bright sorrow and torment, happiness and longing follow each other. His poems evoke admiration with beautiful and poetic images of emotions. In the poems of the love singer one come to know the human soul, the inner world and the feelings. The woman becomes a book read line by line with her whole being, readable, comprehensible to the reader with her diversity. Tlkurantsi, a great artist in creating a visual image, presents woman in a different way in every poem, be it a description of her mental state or physical beauty. He perceives the beautiful and impressive features of a moving body with amazing delicacy, creates comparisons and gives an image where the woman with her beauty acquires a powerful artistic image.

The love singer Tlkurantsi dedicates beautiful words to all women, this is evidenced by his poem I saw you sitting in love, which seems to have become an inspiration for Naghash Hovnatan when he praised Georgian Beauties:

“I have seen you like a light, as the brightness of the rising sun,

My heart was burning with bright fire, I stayed like a fool to be tied” [1, p. 80]..

With this principle of image creating, Hovhannes Tlkurantsi created influential artistic values, touching on the themes of nature, love and philosophic meditation. He not only wrote them, but also wrote music as a composer. He was a singer-songwriter which meant a poet-musician like Nerses Shnorhali [2]. It should be noted that the great lyricist calls himself a speaker, which means an inventor and at the same time a loud reader. In the last quatrains of his poems we often find such ending lines as “Foolish Hovhannes Turkurantsi, you will say something completely different” when the lover mentions his name and calls himself a speaker.

Singer-songwriter Hovhannes Tlkurantsi sings woman and love, he sings like a thirsty lover, praises his beloved woman with extravagance: “bright as fire”, “red rose petal”, “tender as the moon”, “warm as the sun”, “as blond as gold”; then he mentions that love is a feeling that has existed since the time of creation, the powerful force of which even a monk is incapable to endure.

“You have eyes like seas, you have eyebrows more dark than twilight clouds,

 Your neck is luminous and your lips red and teeth like pearls.

If the archimandrite sees you, he forgets about education and a lot of books. Everybody trembles, the summer passes and winter comes” [1, p. 83].

Tlkurantsi’s poems written in Middle Armenian originated such a love poetry in medieval literature that lacked allegorical descriptions. Tlkurantsi expressed his thoughts and feelings, his emotions and impressions with these poems. These lyrical poems are not just words expressing an emotional attitude; they reveal Tlkurantsi himself and his emotional world. Becoming direct expressions of thoughts and moods, these lyrical poems act as a confession of the medieval poet. In his poems, the love singer almost always talks about his sensual world, his feelings, his thoughts and the pain that torments him. Nevertheless, it is also an expression of the sensual world of the man living in his time. His poem is an expression of the feelings of all social layers. There is a longing for life and love in his songs; his emotions are valuable, because they express the elevated and sublime feelings of the human being; this is the genius of the poet Tlkurantsi. The great poet speaks about himself, about his self, about the general, about humanity, because in his words there is everything about the human life. “And that is why in his sadness everyone will recognize his own sadness, in his soul everyone will recognize his own soul, he will see in him not only the poet, but also the man, all the humanity”: This is how Belinsky describes the poet who expresses universal feelings and emotions [3]. Tlkurantsi sings love, the joy it brings and the woman who gives love. In his poems we find the image of a beautiful woman who is enchanting and endowed with such power that “she burns the earth with fire”, “she breaks high fortresses with love". The woman burns the heart of the poet with an angry fire, separates the soul from the body, takes the mind, burns it and turns it to ashes, but also “intoxicates with a sweet smell”, enlivens and makes happy at a glance. Every song by Tlkurantsi in the Book of Songs is a song of sweetness evoked by love, a song of love that makes a man flourish “more than an incense tree”, a song about a woman who is a source of joy, a source of immortality; that is why the lover sings a love song.

“Anyone who loves you will never die and his face will not turn yellow.

 Glory and honor to your parents, glory and honor to your Creator” [1, p. 81].

References:

1. Haцob Meghapart, Book of Songs, Venice, 1513.
2. M. Abeghyan, History of Ancient Armenian Literature, Book II, Publishing House of the USSR Academy of Sciences, Yerevan, 1946, page 80.
3. V.G. Belinsky, Selected Philosophical Works, Vol. 1, 1954, p. 317
4. V.Brusov, Poetry of Armenia from Ancient Times to Our Days, Yerevan, 1966, p. 43.