A Commentary on Bl. John Henry Newman’s Marian Poem:

The Pilgrim Queen

John Henry Newman Young, 1840s
www.frontporchrepublic.com/2010/08/true-education-against-the-death-of-man/john-henry-newman-young/

The Pilgrim Queen

(A Song)

There sat a Lady

all on the ground,

Rays of the morning

circled her round,

Save thee, and hail to thee,

Gracious and Fair,

In the chill twilight

what wouldst thou there?

‘Here I sit desolate,’

sweetly said she,

‘Though I’m a queen,

and my name is Marie:

Robbers have rifled

my garden and store,

Foes they have stolen

my heir from my bower.

‘They said they could keep Him

far better than I,

In a palace all His,

planted deep and raised high.

’Twas a palace of ice,

hard and cold as were they,

And when summer came,

it all melted away.

‘Next would they barter Him,

Him the Supreme,

For the spice of the desert,

and gold of the stream;

And me they bid wander

in weeds and alone,

In this green merry land

which once was my own.’

I looked on that Lady,

and out from her eyes

Came the deep glowing blue

of Italy’s skies;

And she raised up her head

and she smiled, as a Queen

On the day of her crowning,

so bland and serene.

‘A moment,’ she said,

‘and the dead shall revive;

The giants are failing,

The Saints are alive;

I am coming to rescue

My home and my reign,

And Peter and Philip

Are close in my train.’

(Flowers of Heaven, 133-134)

Immaculate José Antolínez, 1670
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Antolinez-inmaculada-ashmolean.jpg

Bl. John Henry Newman in his lyrical work, “The Pilgrim Queen,” incorporates spiritual as well as temporal meaning into his hauntingly beautiful poem dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. Its beauty makes it pleasurable; its mystery makes it enticing; its lilting sweetness embodies its Marian theme. All of these attributes combined and formulated together make it a masterpiece. Written with such verse-like and melodious quality, the engaged reader can almost hear soft music drifting in the background.

The speaker in “The Pilgrim Queen” appears to be an unnamed meditator, or perhaps someone experiencing a vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary (identified as Marie in the poem). One writer interprets this poem as being Medieval in character with the speaker being a “…gentle medieval knight…full of chivalry for his lady love… [and] Queen…he seeks no selfish or earthly gains, neither has he in mind any ambition to win the lady’s hand in marital relationship. He bears her a spiritual and tender love and devotion” (“The Joys of a Pilgrim” 158-159). The poet speaks conversationally in the format of a first person dialogue to the Blessed Virgin, making the poem a dramatic work. Its stirring rhyme pattern is ABCBDEFE.

The meaning of this poem can be interpreted in a number of ways. One interpretation is that the poem reflects the Protestant Revolt against Catholicism. Particularly in England, formerly known as Mary’s Dower, where Protestantism forsook devotion to the Virgin Mary, she was thus robbed of her heir and stripped of her royal reign and country, which she refers to as “this green merry land/ which once was my own” (“The Pilgrim Queen” Ln. 31-32). One writer expounds upon this element further when she writes how during the Reformation, “the Protestants declared that the Bible and Christ are enough for salvation and banished Mary, the Queen from her place of honor. In reality, Mary, the mother of Christ, ought to be the Queen of England as King Richard II had dedicated the land to Mary” (“The Joys of a Pilgrim” 159). This conception is further shown in the poem when Marie tells the speaker how she has been robbed of her heir: “[t]hey said they could keep Him/ far better than I,/ In a palace all His,/…’Twas a place of ice” (“The Pilgrim Queen” Ln. 17-20). The “cold palaces” Bl. Newman refers to is are a metaphor for the bare and cold Protestant churches, stripped of all paintings, statues, stained glass and all other Catholic symbols (“The Joys of a Pilgrim”). The Lady Marie is now reduced to the lowly state of a wanderer and pilgrim, seated desolately amid the foliage upon the ground.

The tone of the poem is one of sadness, yet hope and triumph prevail towards the end. Lady Marie raises her noble and queenly head and proclaims her battle plan for the reconquering of her own land, her “home”, England (“The Pilgrim Queen” Ln. 46). She proceeds to foretell of England’s “second spring...when Catholicism…[will] make its revival in England” (“The Joys of the Pilgrim” 161). Additionally, Bl. Newman’s Lady also proclaims that “Peter and Philip/ are close in my train” (“The Pilgrim Queen” Ln. 47-48). The reference to Peter is clearly that of St. Peter the Fisherman of the Gospels and the Vicar of Christ’s Church on earth. Philip refers to St. Philip Neri, the founder of the Oratorians, a religious order which Bl. Newman brought from Rome and began in England (“Newman and St. Philip Neri: The Quest for Sanctity”). Also, the Eternal City of Rome is signified in stanza five in the line when the  knight is staring into the Blessed Queen’s eyes: “and out from her eyes/ Came the deep glowing blue of Italy’s skies” (“The Pilgrim Queen” Ln. 34-36). In other words, the poem deftly relates the history of the Catholic Church in England from the time of the Protestant Reformation until Bl. Newman’s own nineteenth century in the form of a beautiful hymn of devotion and love to the Blessed Virgin Mary.

One can easily imagine Bl. John Henry Newman putting himself in the person of the chaste knight of the poem, singing the praises of his beloved Lady in the lilting arrangement of a hymn. Clearly, by means of the power and sweetness of this literary work, the genius and magnitude of Bl. Newman’s love and admiration for the Mother of Christ is evident. Also palpable and integrated into the very structure of the Marian poem is Bl. Newman’s devoted love and patriotism for his country, England, despite his sadness concerning her history of infidelity to her Mother.

John Henry Newman 
Jane Fortescue Seymour, 1875
www.thecatholicthing.org/2012/04/01/the-measure-of-the-world/

Works Cited

K. V., Mary. “John Henry Cardinal Newman the Pilgrim Poet”.  Shodh: A Reservoir of Indian Theses. Web. (25 April 2018). <shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/handle/10603/148013?mode=full>.

Newman, John Henry. Pierce, Joseph (ed.), Flowers of Heaven: “The Pilgrim Queen”. (Great Britain: Hodder & Stoughton, 1999). 

Robinson C. O., Jonathan.  “Newman and St. Philip Neri: The Quest for Sanctity”. 1996.  Eternal Word Television Network. Web. (25 April 2018). <www.ewtn.com/library/HUMANITY/FR89401.TXT>.