From the Commentary to Ellis’ Book of Poems and Translations ‘The Cross and the Lyre’. II. Medieval Latin Epigraphs

The essay examines Latin sequentiae and other texts on the border of literature and liturgy that appear in the original as epigraphs in works of the poet and translator Ellis (Lev Lvovich Kobylinsky, 1879 –1947) including his third book of poems and translations Krest i Lira (“The Cross and the Lyre”), compiled in Locarno in 1938. The identification of these texts allows us to map out with precision the range of his work with medieval Western European themes and to explore the role of Latin liturgy in the creation of his conception of the interpenetration of Eastern and Western Christian traditions. Thе evidence also shed additional light upon the poetics of the adaptation of Catholic culture in Russian Symbolism (especially in works of Vyacheslav Ivanov).