Popol Vuh: Sacred Book of the Quiché Maya - Mesoweb

is important. By pairing each thought with complementary ones, the authors are able to
develop their ideas with greater clarity. They may compare elements, contrast them, elaborate
upon their significance, or add layers of meaning which would not otherwise be obvious.
Parallelism is also the primary means used by Quiché authors to give order to their
thoughts. The words of the Popol Vuh were not arranged into sentences and paragraphs as in
modern literature. The use of periods, commas, and capitalization to separate independent
concepts was inconsistent at best, reflecting the authors’ lack of familiarity with European
devices for punctuation. Parallelism provided a means of structuring the book’s ideas into
distinct and coherent entities.
Much of Quiché literature was based in whole, or in part, on oral tradition. Parallelism is a
common mnemonic device used in many ancient cultures to help narrators remember the flow
and direction of their tale. This is particularly true of the chiastic type of parallelism, which
may give order to large sections of a story. It also gives the listener an opportunity to hear a
recapitulation in reverse order of what had been said, while reminding him of the central
themes that are of special importance.
The presence of parallelism in the Popol Vuh is also a tremendous, though unintended,
boon to modern translators. By comparing an ambiguous word or passage with its associated
line, its general meaning is often clarified. This is especially important when interpreting a
word which has more than one possible meaning, or which is poorly transcribed through
scribal error.
Perhaps the most important reason that I have stressed the poetic nature of the Popol Vuh
in this translation is the insight it gives into the mind of the ancient Quiché author. We can see
how he organized his thoughts as he took pen or brush in hand to set them down in
permanent form. Far from being the random musings of an unlearned storyteller, the Popol
Vuh can be appreciated as the eloquent creation of a master poet with a sophisticated literary
heritage.
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