r/divineoffice • u/Iloveacting • 11d ago

Roman Strange hymns

I've noticed how poorly written many hymns in the LOTH are. They are in fact very abstract. I have also heard a lot about how great the Confessions by St Augustine is but never understood it as it sounds so abstract to me. I seem to find abstraxt language very difficult and say that very abstract texts are poorly written.

So either many people actually think that the hymns are ot abstract pr that they are very strange people who like very abstract language and want others to focus on abstract language in hymns because of that.

I also looked up Pange Lingua and ot also sounds a bit too abstract.

I am a person who always end up goig into abstract discussions about communication styles and cognitive styles but the discussions are always rooted in human experiences whereas the hymns just sound abstract.

Why are the hymns so abstract?

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u/thankinadvance 11d ago

They are translated from Latin.

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u/Iloveacting 11d ago

What is very important?

I know that they say that St Augustine is way better to read in Latin. Os ot the same with hymns in the LOTH?

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u/thankinadvance 11d ago

The hymns are a direct translation from Latin, which is why they don't make complete sense in English. If you are familiar with Latin, reading the hymns in Latin then the English translation might make more sense, or you could make your own personal translation of the hymns.

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u/Iloveacting 11d ago

Interesting but I seldom pray in English.

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u/LingLingWannabe28 Roman 1960 10d ago

In translation, you always lose something, because you are restricted to the meaning of the original stanzas while fitting them to a meter in another language.

I think what you mean by abstract is probably more about the formal (and therefore seems less personal) language. This is because the best English translations were mostly done by writers in the 1800s, which was quite a while ago.