Mercian Hymns: mito, historia y lengua

Abstract

Geoffrey Hill's concern with history has to do with myth and language. Mercian Hymns, the most compressed and enigmatic book by Hill, shows the three elements working in their mutual implications. Should this correlation be neglected, the Hymns become baffling to the reader. On such grounds, this essay analyzes the hymns in their historical dimension and reveals subsequently how hystory is fused with myth. The fusion of both factors conceals biographical implications, and language —by way of anachronisms, etymological puns, allusiveness, juxtaposition, and fusion of levels— contributes to stress the fluctuation among history, myth, and biography.