Sacred Night of the Sleep, the Idea of a Child, and Respiratory Poetics of Peace

Abstract

This article deals with Hölderlin’s, Claudel’s, and Bachelard’s poetic imagination in light of the idea of child, the sacredness of the child’s sleep, and related respiratory (po)ethics. In the first part, we are analysing ancient genealogies of natality and femininity as they are represented within selected Hölderlin’s hymns – in the forefront of our readings is his unfinished Hymn to Madonna. Heidegger’s philosophy of natality and his elemental thought is also evaluated and interpreted in this part. This is followed in the second part by our presentation of Bachelard’s poetic imagination of sleep and the related idea of the cosmic cradle, also as related to the respiratory rhythms of sleep and rhythms of cosmos. Finally, in the third part of the paper, on the trace of Claudel’s idea of the immortality of the child, especially as presented in his Magnifikat ode, and under the horizon of the thought of Luce Irigaray, we are entering into a more specific Christian setting of our thinking. In the light of the idea of the child, we are discussing the relationality between Mary and Jesus and finally proposing a new ethical horizon, comprising the ideas of natality, child, and poetics of peace.