Dante and Braque in Saint-John Perse Saint-John Perse’s “four evolutionary domains” and L’Ordre des oiseaux

This article examines Saint-John Perse’s transformation of Dante’s hermeneutics (the “four senses”) into a process of spiritual and artistic evolution that he calls the “four evolutionary domains.” Two simultaneous readings emerge: a Western (Christian) reading, and an Eastern reading, which sees artistic creation as a spiritual path that is complete in itself.