Litany of the old woman, by Arlete da Cruz: melancholy, the discourse of abandonment and the sacred

Abstract

The poem Litania da Velha (Cruz, 1997), by Arlete Nogueira da Cruz, condenses the relationship between the narrative of an old woman and the city of São Luís, especially the Historical Center. It is within this scenario that the lyrical subject weaves the melancholy of the passage of time, in the course of daily life, permeated by old age, abandonment and sacred/profanity. In this sense, the research has as objectives: to understand the presence of melancholy constructed within the text in question; to discuss the verisimilitude between the space and the Old Woman; to analyze the discourse of the abandonment of minors and the sacred in the poetics. To do so, it was necessary to follow a qualitative and bibliographic methodology, listing authors such as Walter Benjamin (1989), Marcelo Lima Costa (2016), Dinacy M. Corrêa (2010), among other relevant works in the area. Thus, the present work stands out because it proposes a different perspective on the consecrated poem from Maranhão, as well as because it highlights the local literary production.