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breathe.the.spirit -> Christian Poetry (7/13/2008 8:04:56 AM)

I am a relative newbee to Christian poetry. Can anyone recommend some good poets and/or books of poetry?



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/13/2008 11:15:37 AM)

try impastato's upholding the mystery - it's a great start for contemporary christian poets

image: a journal of the arts and religion often features poets who, if not christian, certainly engage and wrestle with issues of faith.

previous to the last 200 years, one could argue that most poets at least wrote from a 'christian' world view. faves off the top of my head: john donne, leonard cohen, george herbert, john milton, dante, that "truth is beauty, beauty is truth" poet...

i'll be back with more but are you looking for contemporary poets, older poets, overtly "christian" poetry or more slippery work?



Auben -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/13/2008 11:31:13 AM)

In addition to techne's suggestions, Christina Rossetti and Gerard Manley Hopkins (a Jesuit priest actually) are also highly recommended. Hopkins particularly deals a lot with his Christian faith (see 'God's Grandeur').

Less overt are WH Auden and TS Eliot but they both have poems which reflect their faith.



WaitingforBoaz -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/13/2008 11:43:12 AM)

Golden Praises

Compiled by.... Jo Petty





~Blessings~



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/13/2008 12:42:24 PM)

right. that "beauty=truth, truth=beauty" poet was hopkins.

and how could i forget eliot? the pairing of the waste land (before he found faith) and four quartets (after he found faith) is instructive and evocative.

another interesting book, more about writing and faith, rather than specifically about [christian] poets, is ryken's the christian imagination. very instructive.

i know there have been a few other threads about this topic - you may want to search around a bit for them -- perhaps in the writers roundtable forum?



1love1God1way -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/15/2008 6:11:38 PM)

Just read my stuff [:)]



breathe.the.spirit -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 8:23:44 AM)

Hi EVeryone,
Apologies for the late reply. Thanks very much for your input. This will give me something to do in my spare time! Techne, to answer your question- I am interested in overtly Christian poets, both contemporary & earlier. Auben, someone (an English teacher!) had previously recommended Hopkins & I had forgettten his name, so I am very greateful for the reminder.
Thanks again,
God bless,
Dexter



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 9:29:03 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: breathe.the.spirit
I am interested in overtly Christian poets, both contemporary & earlier.

just curious, but why "overtly christian poets" as opposed to poets who are christians?

on another note: one of the ways 17th and 18th century poets "cut their teeth" was in doing translations or interpretations of the psalms. you could probably find a lot of interesting books on that (i know i have a dozen or so books that are translations of the psalms by both christians and pagans). that might also be an interesting personal exercise.



Auben -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 10:20:07 AM)

"Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is Keats (I'm pretty sure).

William Blake has a very interesting theology behind his poems and a good biography of him may be interesting while reading his stuff.

This link may be interesting to you, although I don't consider all of these folks to be 'christian' poets (I don't think of Wordsworth, Coleridge or Whitman as particularly Christian although they may have ideas that are interesting to theologians). While looking for modern Christian poets though the end of the list might be helpful. Schnackenberg (who I've never head of before) looks interesting.

I appreciate this question because it's bringing names like Adelia Prado. Keep searching around.



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 10:44:15 AM)

quote:

ORIGINAL: Auben
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty" is Keats (I'm pretty sure).

you're right - it is keats. my bad. but hopkins was a christian - a jesuit priest in fact. check out "God's grandeur", for instance.

as a "movement", you might check out the metaphysical poets: donne (especially his holy sonnets - yum!), herbert, et al.



Auben -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 3:31:12 PM)

[:D] I linked to 'God's Grandeur' in my first post, techne.



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/16/2008 11:10:29 PM)

[sm=yummy.gif]

(sigh)



breathe.the.spirit -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/17/2008 4:57:02 AM)

Techne, I copied the "overtly Christian poets" from your post [:D]
Reading God's Greandeur I feel like Hopkins jumped into my mind & started kicking my walls out. I am having a little trouble trying to get my mind around it. He's got my mind doing gymnastics it hasn't done before. Very good though. It reminds me of my first experience listening to avante garde jazz. I play drums so I was able to recognise the brilliant musianship, however it sounded a little like 4 people playing their own thing! I got there with AGJ so I am confident I will get there with different poerty forms.
1love1God1way, I really liked your writing.
When I have written prose in the past it has a similar form to the psalms. Now I am getting some inspiration towards a freer form.



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/17/2008 9:12:44 PM)

some contemporary [christian] poets:

scott cairns
lucy shaw
eric pankey
mary carr
franz wright
mark jarman
nicholas samaras
susanna childress
jeanne murray walker
janine hathaway



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (7/20/2008 11:29:02 AM)

some more:

li-young lee
jill alexander essbaum
lyman grant
larry d. thomas
jill pelaez baumgaertner



techne -> RE: Christian Poetry (8/9/2008 11:04:06 PM)

and a great website -- http://www.dbu.edu/mitchell/christia3.htm

enjoy!



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