In Santa Maria del Popolo (Masterplots II: Poetry, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Thom Gunn
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Work: Lyric
- Genres: Poetry, Lyric poetry
- Subjects: Art or artists, Religion, Christianity, Painting or painters, Revelation, Catholics or Catholic Church, Italy or Italians, Saints or sainthood, Rome, Church or churches
The Poem
“In Santa Maria del Popolo” is composed of four stanzas, each containing eight lines of iambic pentameter, with the rhyme scheme ababcdcd. The title refers to a famous church in Rome, Italy, which houses the painting The Conversion of Saint Paul by Caravaggio (1573-1610). The painting depicts the moment in the biblical story (Acts 9) in which Saul of Tarsus is blinded by a heavenly light and falls to the ground. Later, Saul is cured of his blindness by Ananías and converted, eventually to become Saint Paul. The poem’s title, however, focuses on the...
[The entire page is 1332 words long]
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