The Language of the «Tree of Light»

Abstract

This paper shows the different aspects of the Ramon Llull’s allegorical interpretation in order to display the spiritual and moral senses in the last chapters of the Llibre de la contemplació. On the one hand, Llull knew the Jewish and Arab thinkers —of the 12th century— who dealt with the meaning of the common language words and its allegorical and symbolic relations with divine virtues. This source is combined with the moral teaching transmitted by Prudentius’ Psychomachia, in which it represented the virtuous struggle between body and soul. On the other hand, the spiritual aspects of the Arthurian vulgate provide two important symbols: the “Tree of Light” and the “Apple”.