A Thought On Poetry And Religion

John Keble, 1792-1866.

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Poetry lends Religion her wealth of symbols and similes. Religion restores these again to Poetry, clothed with so splendid a radiance that they appear to be no longer merely symbols, but to partake of the nature of the sacraments.

-John Keble, Lectures on Poetry

This quote calls to mind Czeslaw Milosz‘s poetry, which is full of Christian symbolism.  I find the true beauty of poetry in the spiritual overtones of Robert Frost, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Wendell Berry, and George Herbert.

A question to ponder this weekend: how is poetry a spiritual presence in your life? (Psalms count!)

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Posted by on Sep 19, 2008 in Uncategorized | 1 comment

1 Comment

  1. Kevin
    Sep 23, 2008

    Ha! I had thought perhaps you had not gotten my message with that
    quote. I was reading about the imagination and vision of nature in
    English Romantic and Victorian poetry and came across that quote and
    thought I’d ought to share it with you. Working on Pusey has led me to
    think more about the role poetry plays in helping us to see the world
    as it really is, a vision that scientific description is unable to
    convey. As Fr Andrew Louth of Durham University puts it in his book,
    Discerning the Mystery, poetry, is in reality, a more objective
    language about reality than science, because it can portray depths that
    are unsayable for science. I think this is why some of the best
    theologians (e.g. Gregory Nazianzus, Augustine, Symeon the New
    Theologian, Dante, Silouan the Athonite) were also poets.

    Respond

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