From Yehuda Amichai and W. H. Auden to Phyllis Wheatley and Walt Whitman, Hearing God in Poetry invites you to take a closer look at fifty great poems by some of the finest poets in the English language. Some are well known, some deserve to be better known, but all say something distinctive that will lift your spirit.
This beautiful Lent book for 2022 offers six poems for every week from Ash Wednesday, leading up to Holy Week, with ten poems specially chosen for Easter. A short reflection from Richard Harries accompanies each poet and the poem, drawing out their spiritual insights and how they communicate God’s presence.
Hearing God in Poetry is an ideal Lent book for 2022 for poetry lovers and anyone interested in how some of the world’s finest poets have expressed faith in their work. This book of daily readings will introduce you to some wonderful poetry for Lent and Easter, and give you a deeper understanding and appreciation of these brilliant works of literature. It will also help expand your spirituality to see God’s presence in the world around you as you prepare for Easter.
Full of riches, Hearing God in Poetry is a book that you will want to turn to time and time again – whether during Lent or in any other season of the year.
Innehållsförteckning
Acknowledgements xi
Introduction xv
Ash Wednesday to Lent, week 1: Preparation
Ash
Wednesday Surview Thomas Hardy 3
Thursday King Lear William Shakespeare 6
Friday The poor parson Geoffrey Chaucer 9
Saturday Lachrimae amantis Geoffrey Hill 13
Week 1: Testing
Monday Batter my heart John Donne 19
Tuesday God moves in a mysterious way William Cowper 22
Wednesday Twice Christina Rossetti 26
Thursday The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Samuel Taylor Coleridge 30
Friday In Memoriam Alfred Lord Tennyson 34
Saturday In memory of W. B. Yeats W. H. Auden 37
Week 2: Grace
Monday I count the moments of my mercies up Elizabeth Jennings 41
Tuesday The quality of sprawl Les Murray 44
Wednesday If thou must love me . . . Elizabeth Barrett Browning 48
Thursday The moor R. S. Thomas 51
Friday The kingdom of God Francis Thompson 54
Saturday Prayer Carol Ann Duffy 57
Week 3: Glory in the ordinary
Monday Miracles Walt Whitman 61
Tuesday And that is your glory Yehuda Amichai 63
Wednesday The glory Edward Thomas 66
Thursday Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey William Wordsworth 69
Friday Jubilate Agno Christopher Smart 73
Saturday Ode on a Grecian urn John Keats 76
Week 4: Parental love
Monday Oh antic God Lucille Clifton 83
Tuesday The almond tree Jon Stallworthy 85
Wednesday Walking away C. Day-Lewis 91
Thursday Mother to son Langston Hughes 94
Friday Digging Seamus Heaney 97
Saturday Taking a chance Richard Harries 100
Week 5: Being fully human
Monday As kingfishers catch fire Gerard Manley Hopkins 105
Tuesday On imagination Phyllis Wheatley 108
Wednesday An Essay on Man Alexander Pope 111
Thursday Eve remembering Toni Morrison 116
Friday One foot in Eden still Edwin Muir 118
Saturday Who am I? Dietrich Bonhoeffer 121
Holy Week: Death
Monday When my time come Khadijah Ibrahiim 127
Tuesday The trees are down Charlotte Mew 131
Wednesday The father, the son Roger Mc Gough 135 Maundy
Thursday The Dream of the Rood Early English, anonymous 138
Good Friday To the good thief Saunders Lewis 142
Holy Saturday No coward soul is mine Emily Brontë 145
Easter and into the new life in Christ
Easter Day Piers Plowman William Langland 151
Monday of Easter Week Easter Edmund Spenser 155
Tuesday of Easter Week I saw him standing Ann Griffiths 158
Wednesday of Easter Week Easter George Herbert 161
Thursday of Easter Week O Sapientia Malcolm Guite 165
Friday of Easter Week Shadows D. H. Lawrence 168
Saturday of Easter Week Sailing to Byzantium William Butler Yeats 171
Second Sunday of Easter This world is not conclusion Emily Dickinson 175
Monday Signs Piers Plowright 178
Tuesday Little Gidding T. S. Eliot 181
Notes 185
Om författaren
RICHARD HARRIES was Bishop of Oxford from 1987-2006 and is now an Honorary Professor of Theology at King’s College. He is the author of more than 20 books, many of them on ethical issues, and is a frequent broadcaster. He chaired the Church of England’s Board for Social Responsibility and the Ethics and Law Committee of the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (the HFEA). He was made a Life Peer on his retirement (Lord Harries of Pentregarth) and continues to contribute in the House of Lords.