The Chapel of the Thorn: A Dramatic Poem by Charles Williams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Reading Charles Williams has always made me feel as if I stood on a threshold between two worlds, or, rather, in a shadow dappled wood where those worlds exist together; and though I am aware of the distinction between the two, just as I am of the difference between the sunlight and the shadow, I know equally well that both are integral to a larger realm. It is the same feeling I get when I read Sir Launfal, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or Pearl, because it is the same world, though (perhaps) at a different time, a world of testing and possibility, a world of spirit and love, a world of restraint and license. The Chapel of the Thorn also seems to take place in just such a world.
Written in 1912 and never before published, The Chapel of the Thorn dramatizes the conflict between two churchmen over a relic or ‘hallow’ of the crown of thorns worn by Christ during the Passion. On the one side is old Joachim, a mystic and teacher, longtime guardian of the relic and keeper of its chapel; on the other is Innocent, abbot of the newly built monastery, emissary of the pope, who both advises and dominates Constantine, king of the land. Joachim believes in only a direct personal relationship with God as the path to salvation; Innocent believes that we humans are not up to the challenge of such a path, and advocates for the power and laws of the Church as necessary guides.
This conflict is further complicated by the recent ‘conversion’ of this land to Christianity after the expulsion of the old religion’s priest-bards, one of whom, Amael, returns to woo the people and challenge both Joachim and Innocent with his religion of gods and heroes. The common folk of the village, moreover, are mostly outward adherents of Christianity, remaining dedicated in their hearts to the old faith and its customs. They know better than any the difficulty of belief in a world where the will of the divine is often inscrutable. Their opposition to the abbot springs from the presence beneath the Chapel of the tomb of one of the heroes of the old religion (a hero prophesied to return again), and from their fear that the abbot will force them to abandon their most cherished customs. Then, too, there is Michael, the young assistant of Joachim, who longs for the epic life that Amael represents; and a mysterious, nameless woman who repeatedly appears to pray to the Virgin Mary for the life of her sick child. And in the end there is no clear victor among the contending parties, and no clear notion of where the poet’s sympathies lie. That may finally be the point, to leave the reader thoughtful and alone in a dappled wood where worlds coexist.
With the various issues and parties involved Sørina Higgins deals thoroughly and deftly, not only exploring Williams’s life and writings for clues to understanding what he was about in The Chapel of the Thorn, but also showing how it may serve as an introduction to Williams’s later, more mature works. Sørina Higgins is also judicious in accomplishing these ends, not allowing some theoretical approach to dictate her understanding of the text, but rather embracing the text as the prerequisite to both understanding and theory. There is also a final section in the introduction in which Higgins nicely summarizes Williams’s growth as a poet between this play and Taliessin through Logres a quarter of a century later. She has done a service to the study of Williams’s works and thought.
For the reader the difficulty in this text lies beyond the editor’s control. Williams was often expressing theological ideas with which many of us are unfamiliar in a convoluted and archaic poetical language. But rereading repays our efforts, as it almost always does, and with the improved grasp that a second reading brings, the beauty of the poetry and the beauty of Williams’s handling of his subject become even clearer. I look forward to a third reading.
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