This article is about three poetry texts: “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” (Early one May morning)
by the 13th century Dutch minstrel Duke Jan I of Brabant, and texts by two twentieth-century
poets – TT Cloete (Afrikaans) and Cees Nooteboom (Dutch) – who both use the refrain from
Jan I’s text (“Harba lori fa”) as title. Various interpretations of the refrain and some views
on intertextuality are addressed, among others absolute and limited intertextuality and the
ideas of Panagiotidou who approaches this phenomenon from a cognitive perspective. She
points out, inter alia, that triggers such as words and phrases in a current text may lead readers
to activate related texts and that the amount of detail (granularity) recollected is an important
factor.
Subsequently the three texts are considered independently – as far as this is possible –
regarding their nature and structure. Attention is paid, inter alia, to sound, syntactic and
semantic patterns and their functions, symbolic values, especially of elements from nature
that occur in all the texts, and the role, tone and attitude of the speaking voice in each text.
In the case of Jan I’s text, attention is paid, for example, to spring and traditions associated
with it in Western Europe and to the presence (or not?) of courtly behaviour. Some crucial
aspects of Cloete’s “family poem” are the close-knit relations between parents and children
as reflected by the use of “our” and the association of the members with a bed of flowers. A
game is also played with the reader by concealing the names of the poet’s wife and children in neologisms like “Astert,” at the same time undergirding the garden motif further.
Nooteboom’s text has no full rhyme, but makes use of parallelism, the repetition of certain
vowels and alliteration (“lijden en lachen”). The latter emphasizes the semantic opposition
of suffering and laughter, a contrast that reverberates throughout the poem, especially when
considering the symbolic values of the natural elements that readers may activate, for instance
fig and laurel versus thorn and thistle. This creates a degree of ambivalence in the speaker’s
attitude towards life, despite the seemingly joyful shout “harba lori fa” in the course of the
poem.
Hereafter. the author focuses on the relationship of the Cloete and Nooteboom texts (final
texts) to “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” (initial text) as well as their mutual relationship with
regard to, inter alia, shifts, repetition, rereading, and replacements. Important to note, however,
is that Cloete’s text does not only echo Jan I’s poem, but also Psalm 128 from the Bible that
is referenced in a second paratextual element: a subtitle. Both poets’ texts show a clear
geographical shift: in Cloete’s case from the Dutch world of Jan I’s song and the ancient Near
Eastern setting of Psalm 128 to a South African environment as indicated clearly by the plant
name “kanna” (from Khoi). In Nooteboom’s poem there is a shift from the Netherlands to a
Mediterranean sphere. Cloete replaces the three pretty “joncfrouwen” (unmarried girls) with
a wife and children and the young man hoping to find love with a happily married husband and father. The rather contentious (ideological) issue is raised of whether all readers will find
this schema – also reflected in the Psalm – acceptable, confirming the ideology of a nuclear
family. Nooteboom’s poem mentions no women, but only a friend “who knows the story of his
downfall”. Whereas the situation in the Cloete text reflects happiness and fulfilment, the speaker
towards the end of Nooteboom’s poem – portraying himself as a weaving spider – foresees his
potential destruction. In view of the friend’s situation, this may perhaps be seen as a
destabilising and doubling of the self that some critics identify in Nooteboom’s work.
Granularity, as it becomes evident in the intertextual relationships between Jan I’s poem and
the others, is also briefly discussed. To conclude: It was found that this (limited) intertextual approach not only revealed the
details of each text more clearly, but that they also bring each other in full relief.
Hierdie artikel handel oor drie gedigtekste: “Eens Meienmorgens vroe” van die 13de-eeuse
Nederlandse minstreel, hertog Jan I van Brabant, en tekste van twee twintigste-eeuse digters
– TT Cloete (Afrikaans) en Cees Nooteboom (Nederlands) – wat albei die refrein uit Jan I se
teks (“Harba lori fa”) as titel het. Daar word ingegaan op verskillende interpretasies van die
refrein en op enkele sieninge oor intertekstualiteit, onder meer absolute en beperkte
intertekstualiteit. Daarna kom die drie tekste elkeen afsonderlik aan bod – vir sover so iets
moontlik is – en word hulle aard en struktuur bespreek. By die Cloete- en die Nooteboomtekste
fokus die skrywer vervolgens op hierdie tekste (eindtekste) se verhouding tot “Eens
Meienmorgens vroe” (beginteks) en ook die intertekstuele verband tussen die Cloete- en die
Nooteboom-tekste onderling met betrekking tot transformasies soos verskuiwing, herlesing
en vervanging. Insigte uit kognitiewe benaderings tot intertekstualiteit word ook, waar ter
sake, gebruik, spesifiek die begrip korrelrigheid (“granularity”). Dit het geblyk dat hierdie
(beperkte) intertekstuele benadering die besonderhede en eie aard van elke teks duideliker
laat word en dat hulle ook aan mekaar volle reliëf gee.
