The Miracle of Water in Early Medieval Latin and Vernacular Literature: With a Focus on Hrotsvit of Gandersheim’s “Gongolf”

Abstract

The topic of water has gained tremendously in significance and even urgency today because of global warming and the ever-shrinking availability of good drinking water for a constantly growing world population. One important approach to changing our attitude toward this precious resource without which there cannot be life proves to be a careful and meaningful close reading of literary texts where the protagonist/s pay explicit respect to water and identify it as what it really is, a gift from God or any other divine being/creator. Recent studies have already identified the great symbolic significance of rivers, and even seas, for human society because they interact intimately with human beings, providing resources, constituting dangers and barriers, and symbolizing human life through the natural entity. The present article highlights an early medieval verse narrative, Hrotsvit of Gandersheim’s religious legend narrative, “Gongolf,” where the protagonist recognizes from early on the spiritual function of good clear water, which foreshadows his turning into a saint. Other literary texts from that early period also contributed to the global discourse on water as the conditio sine qua non for human existence, though Hrotsvit appears to be the most sophisticated and eloquent poet to create this literary paean on water. A useful term for this narrative phenomenon could be ‘aquapoetics.’