Metaphors for Metamorphosis: The Poetics of Kenosis and the Apophasis of Self in Saint John of the Cross

The Spanish mystic Saint John of the Cross wrote poetry while imprisoned, using first-person female narrators who undergo metamorphoses—becoming a dove, flame, or a knight—to pursue love. John interpreted these figures as the soul seeking God. The metaphors create cognitive dissonance in readers, prompting self-transcendence toward divine union. This process mirrors Christ's self-emptying (kenosis) and the apophatic tradition of negating human knowledge about God.

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Abstract

Spanish mystic Saint Juan (John) of the Cross (1542–1591) began writing poetry while imprisoned by his own monastic order. He developed manuals for contemplation, in part, in the form of commentaries on his principal poems. Their first-person narrators were women who underwent metamorphoses in order to pursue love: one became a dove in her despair; another became flame itself; the last disguised herself as a knight. Juan explained that all three represented the soul that is seeking God. For readers, these metaphors could engender cognitive dissonance, through which they might step outside of themselves and move closer to union with the Divine. This process of human self-emptying and self-negation mirrored the self-emptying (kenosis) of Christ in traditional Christology and the negation (apophasis) of human pretense at knowledge about God in apophatic (“negative”) mysticism.