Animali meravigliosi: rappresentare il miracolo tra «energia» e 'adfectus' nel bestiario del «Mondo creato»

Il Mondo creato is a “sacred poem” in which Torquato Tasso narrates the seven days of Creation. He attempts to reconcile the truth of science and revelation in the truth of the poetic world, according to a conception of faith common to both hexameronal literature and to Dionysian as well Pichian Platonism. The representation of the miracle is intended to reveal God’s heavenly Book through the Book of Nature, in a language similar to that of emblems or feats. By using techniques of evidentia such as energia, ekphrasis, the ‘negative formula’, the poet aims to arouse wonder in the reader-spectator, that is, an affect that produces an inner illumination. Animals obtain the specific function of making manifest the miracle of animated life. They stage an exemplary theatre of passions and virtues that educates the reader’s affects and reveals “by degrees” the mystery of Redemption through the relationship of analogy with Christ.