Joy and gladness

Meaning

In the process-riddle, spirit gladdens soul, and the final reunion of body, soul and spirit is glorified with great joy. Joy thus frames both an initial relation and the perfected outcome, while dissolution, death and separation intervene. The affective language makes the process resemble a drama of loss and restoration rather than a list of operations alone. The English “gladdens” preserves an active relation, whereas “with great joy” names the final condition. Because the poem presents a riddle, these expressions do not prove that the material possesses human consciousness; they belong to the text’s personifying account of its parts.