Based on the title metaphors of a 17th-century devotional book I explore the semantic potential of two image areas and their relationship as symbols for organizing highly fragmented collections of texts and their reading: “hunting” and “forests”. This also encompasses a contribution to determining the genre “silvae”.

The well-known German Christmas carol “Lieb Nachtigall, wach auf” (Dear nightingale, awake), first printed in the 1670 Bamberg Hymnal, is shown to be derived from a spiritual poem by Jesuit Friedrich Spee. In an article published in Daphnis 35 (2006) I have explored the links between the two poems in more detail.