With baroque poets, the vocation of literature seems to be the exaltation of the elemental significance of life and of the human spirit. The tetrad pattern of the four elements - water, fire, air, and earth - provides their views of the cosmos as a whole, imprinting the elements' struggle with one another upon every level of creation. The four elements are the matrix of their relations to both themselves and a primordial Being. Their universe is in essence a universe of tension and uneasiness, for it is a universe of creation, revolt, and exaltation. Man does not simply submit to the forces of nature but is able by spiritual energy to regulate and control them.
| ISBN: | 9780820406398 |
| Publication date: | 1st August 1988 |
| Author: | Marlies Kronegger |
| Publisher: | P. Lang an imprint of Lang, Peter, Publishing Inc. |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 160 pages |
| Series: | American University Studies. |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: general |