| Commentary: |
Notes from Snow 1977: "Neither of the poems F. comments is really profane (secular), as both belong to the CSM (406 and 60), and both are devotional and center on Mary. Also, too much is read into the mayas (406). Rather than the figural motif, this cantiga depends on the simple belief, often sung, that "May is Mary's Month". While pagan memories of May days are latent, it seems an overinterpretation to give them such priority in what is essentially an incantatory cantiga whose litaneutical imitation is built on sound plays on May/Mary. In CSM 60, Eve and Mary are joined in figural union but the whole poem is structured around repetitions of contrasts, mirror images (e.g. the AVE/EVA topos), and oppositions. Such considerations are not given their due." |
