The Mystical Poetry and Prose of San Juan de la Cruz

Poetic Work and Literary Excellence

St. John of the Cross's poetic work constitutes a lyrical landmark in Western literature, noted for its loving intensity and literary excellence. The former prisoner sought union with the divinity through a language that, due to its insufficiency, required him to incorporate various poetic traditions:

• The traditional lyric
• The classical
• The Italianate
• The biblical

These influences are especially evident in the Spiritual Canticle.

Major Mystical Poems and Symbolic Language

The ineffable nature of mystical experience means that in the major works of St. John of the Cross, the poet has recourse to a symbolic language based on human love. The three major poems are:

• Dark Night of the Soul
• Spiritual Canticle
• Living Flame of Love

In the first two, the pattern of argument is the same: the soul (the beloved or wife) seeks God (the Husband) and achieves mystical union. All three poems are written in liras (lyre stanzas).

Living Flame of Love

This composition is a pure celebration of the mystical union.

Dark Night of the Soul

The poetic voice—a woman in love—announces her departure in search of the Beloved, leading to a joyful meeting and loving union with God.

Spiritual Canticle

With a dramatic structure, the poem presents a woman in love searching for the Beloved in a landscape characterized as a locus amoenus (pleasant place). Nature (mountains, shores, meadows, forests, springs, etc.), beautiful and alive, is identified with the Bridegroom and reflects His beauty. The spiritual marriage is consummated.

Prose Work: The Four Mystical Treatises

The prose work of St. John consists of four major mystical treatises (commentaries). Each treatise serves as an extensive commentary on one of his major poems:

1. Ascent of Mount Carmel (commentary on the first stanzas of the Dark Night)
2. Dark Night
3. Spiritual Canticle
4. Living Flame of Love