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The Medieval Church · c. 810–814
In Praise of the Holy Cross
De Laudibus Sanctae Crucis
Rabanus Maurus · c. 780–856
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What it is
Twenty-eight figure poems in which letters picked out within a grid of text form crosses, figures, and shapes that can be read as separate verses.
Why it lasted
The most elaborate visual poetry of the Middle Ages, and a book that has to be seen to be read at all.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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