Up till now, right through the 50 years since its discovery in 1966, it has always been thought that the literary structure of Peter Caxaro’s Cantilena is linear. It was taken for granted that its formal organisation was that of a conventional poem or lyrical work.
Though some had paid attention to the physical structure of the Cantilena, none appear to have studied it holistically in its complexity. This must have been due to what has been called ‘the context of expectation’ or ‘an internalised probability system’, with which the western critical reader would almost automatically deal with a text with institutional assumptions foreign to it.
I suggest that the Cantilena’s structure is not linear at all. It is chiastic, and thus much more complex than hitherto thought. This can be proved by both internal and external evidence.
A chiastic structure is one in which the clauses are related to each other through a reversal of arrangements in a sort of inverted parallelism: ABCDCBA. The verses are organised around one axle as in a mirror image from the outermost inwards.
The first verse, thematically and semantically, corresponds with the last, the second from the top with the second from last, the third with the third, etc., like circles around the middle verse (which stands alone). A typical chiasmus would have seven circles (as the Cantilena does). The middle verse is related to the verses at each end. All verses feed the middle verse while conferring it with overall distinction. Syntactically, the key meaning of the whole text lies in the centrepiece.
The chiastic structure is classically used to bring out forcefully a point which is larger than any other throughout the composition, and which is common to all its verses. It is also generally done for mnemonic reasons; so that the text can be recalled more easily (just as Brandan Caxaro had done).
More importantly, the linear reading of the Cantilena might have exposed it to serious misapprehension, since the interpretative weight of the composition was laid on the final verse – even though the central one was recognised as crucial. The chiastic model eases this discrepancy and distributes the weight of the poem equitably throughout the whole structure.
The linear reading of the Cantilena might have exposed it to serious misapprehension
If, as has been proposed, Caxaro came from a converted Jewish family, then he might have been acquainted with the chiastic technique in both the Bible (including the New Testament) and the Qur’an. Furthermore, if the Cantilena is a zajal poem in the tradition of the Andalusian Ibn Quzmân, then Caxaro would have been conversant with the chiastic poems of both Ibn Quzmân and his followers.
Nevertheless, there are also other significant reasons why, contrary to what has been thought up till now, the Cantilena’s literary structure is a chiastic, and not a linear, one. I shall state just three of them very briefly.
First of all, throughout the Cantilena, one cannot miss a running emotional tension: an uncontrollable heart, a collapse in a well, a drowning, a rough sea, a deception, a luckless land. The poem narrates a sad predicament which, though hopeful of redemption, nonetheless retains its poignant propensity. Though the poem may be taken literally, it might also be suggesting other types of anxieties, such as figurative, symbolic, spiritual, geopolitical, etc.
Secondly, a textual analysis of the Cantilena demonstrates that, while consciously opting for an intellectual bearing which can be traced to the Platonic tradition, reflexively Caxaro’s mind categories functioned – almost certainly by training – according to the dictates of a counter tradition, namely the Aristotelian. It, indeed, seems that Caxaro simultaneously abided by both systems of intel-lectual organisation. This must have progressively generated an unshakable tension which affected both his private and public life.
Thirdly, when examining Caxaro’s private life one becomes aware of the moral discord of his existence. Caxaro lived for decades in mortal sin. Though he never married, he seriously tried to do so at least once. Alternatively, he had a long sexually-intimate relationship with (at least) one of his six slaves. Her name was Domenica (surname unknown) and called Mica. With her, Caxaro begot four (illegitimate) children.
Though for both the Church and honourable society, Caxaro was a bachelor of an upright character and a sound moral nature, he evidently was not. Despite his pretenses, this situation must have caused him considerable disquiet and anxiety, even if he endured it till the very end of his days.
When seen against the backgroud of the other conflicts present in his life, and in conjunction with them, we cannot but deduce – not without sufficient documentary support – that Caxaro seems to have been a rather tormented soul, affectively, intellectually and artistically. It is when considering all aspects of his life together (without excluding significant others) that we may appreciate better the Cantilena’s chiastic structure which places tension and conflict as its centrepiece.
Accordingly, the whole complexity of the chiastic composition of the Cantilena can now be seen to make more sense. It is an arrangement which assumes a different dimension and adopts more intense significance when considered against the background of Caxaro’s life in its various spheres. It is, indeed, a structure which Caxaro did not use carelessly or purposelessly. Caxaro wasn’t a conventional man just as his poetic composition wasn’t conventional. Indeed, in the chiastic structure of his Cantilena he left us a legacy of his struggling soul.
Dr Mark Montebello is the author of Pietru Caxaru u l-Kantilena Tiegħu (Faraxa Publications, 2015). This article is a résumé of a talk delivered at the University of Malta.