The Canterbury Cathedral By Paul Frankl: Summary

In the excerpts from his book, Paul Frankl introduced the concepts of symbols of mean and symbols of form. Separated into two sections, Frankl establishes a difference between the two and explains the “three degrees” of symbolism within a cathedral:1) natural objects, 2) works of man, and 3) symbols. In his exploration of these two types of symbolism, Frankl takes a great care to address linguistics and point out specific word choices he is making to avoid confusion. Throughout these excerpts, he relies heavily on scripture to back up his interpretations of cathedral architecture and as support for his three degrees. In this exploration of scripture, Frankl looks at how scholars and theologians have interpreted churches as representations of …show more content…
Thomas Becket which occurred within the cathedral. He believes that most historians look at Canterbury for its significance of the English Gothic style and neglect to address the allegory of the design elements. He especially highlights the choices of colored stones chosen for the symbolism behind their colors and the significance to the location. He also discusses the inclusion and design of the Corona being inspired by the relic housed within: the severed crown of St. Thomas Becket. Throughout his argument, he makes many references to the story of St. Thomas’s martyrdom and relating it back to the architectural and decorative choices. He also used the writings of Gervase of Canterbury but took the time to point out where his writings were …show more content…
Maria del Fiore and the commemorative motet commissioned to celebrated its creation. He takes the established arguments of Warren and Wright, investigates how both are flawed and tries to reconcile their two arguments into a single approach to the relationship. While each of the previous scholars looks at look at a dual relationship, Warren seeing the connection between the music and the actual cathedral and Wright seeing the connection of music and the idealized image of New Jerusalem, Trachtenberg argues that the connection is actually triangular between scripture, music, and architecture. In his approach, he first analyzed Warren and Wright separately to review their argument, evidence, and flaws. Once he has done that, Trachtenberg begins to take their approaches, but rectify their flaws by apply our modern knowledge to old methods, such as Warren mistakes in proportions and construction being replace by what we now know to be true. He looks at the significance of numerology in both the architecture and motet to establish correlations supporting their mathematical