Agency and Appetite for Religious Song:<i>Vexilla Regis</i>and its First Thousand Years
John Thompson
When James Joyce made two of his characters in “Portrait an Artist as a Young Man” refer approvingly to “Vexilla regis prodeunt” he was following the footsteps long line Latin text's admirers. Since Anglo-Saxon times English audiences had clearly appreciated sonorous majesty this processional hymn, largely because solemnity and craft with which it celebrated nature Christ's martial triumph sacrifice. This article offers snapshot different kinds appetite for Venantius Fortunatus' famous religious song first thousand years its existence, from period through mid sixteenth century.
English Studies