Meaning & Analysis
To attempt to find errors in or alter the Magnificat, the sacred and revered hymn of the Virgin Mary from the Gospel of Luke, which is considered a flawless and divinely inspired text.
Insights
Presumptuous Criticism
Symbolizes the act of arrogant and unqualified criticism, where an individual presumes to judge or improve something that is far beyond their understanding or authority.
Defiance of Authority
Represents the folly of challenging or questioning an established authority, whether it be a sacred text, a masterwork of art, or a ruling power, implying the challenger is both ignorant and audacious.
Futile Perfectionism
Illustrates the uselessness of pedantic nitpicking or seeking perfection in something already considered flawless. It is akin to the related proverb, 'seeking a knot in a bulrush'—finding problems where none exist.
Religious and Social Authority
Rooted in a post-Reformation English culture where the Bible was the ultimate authority, the proverb leverages the sacredness of the Magnificat (Mary's hymn) to critique any act of challenging what is considered infallible, be it religious scripture or established secular power.
Psychology of Hubris
The proverb serves as a timeless critique of intellectual hubris, encapsulating the psychological tendency of individuals to overestimate their own knowledge and find fault in established masterpieces or expert consensus, a concept now echoed in modern psychology as the Dunning-Kruger effect.
Critique of Subversion
The act of 'correcting' a sacred text highlights a deep-seated cultural anxiety about subverting established order. As L'Estrange's 1692 citation shows, the proverb was explicitly used to warn subjects against questioning their superiors, linking textual fidelity with social and political obedience.
Rhetorical Devices
Allusion
The entire proverb is a powerful allusion to a well-known biblical text, deriving its force from the audience's shared cultural reverence for the Magnificat as a symbol of perfection.
Symbolism
The Magnificat symbolizes any concept, text, or authority deemed perfect or beyond reproach, while 'correcting' it serves as a metaphor for arrogant, futile, and ignorant criticism.
Irony
A deep situational irony is embedded in the image of a fallible mortal presuming to correct a text believed to be divinely inspired, highlighting the absurdity of such an act.
Transcription
Quotations
Accompanyng to be in me no lyttell presumption, that I wyll in notynge other mens vices correct Magnificat.
Thou Zoilus. i. whiche takest vppon the to correct Magnificat.
Yet there is a syllabe wanting in the second verse, but I dare not correct the magnificat.
To correct Magnificat (an English Proverb) signifies to attempt to amend Scripture, or that which is beyond correction.
This is according to the old saying, to correct Magnificat.
To correct the Magnificat. *To correct that which is without any fault or errour. Magnificat is the Virgin Mary's hymn, Luke I. So called from the first word of it, which is Magnificat.
You seek a knot in a bull-rush; raise a doubt, where none is; would correct the Magnificat.
To correct the Magnificat; Nodum in scirpo quaerere.
'Tis the same Case where Subjects take vpon them to Correct Magnificat, and to Prescribe to their Superiors.
Cross References
Related Proverbs
Original Scan
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