Poets' Meeting: George Herbert, R.S. Thomas, and the Argument with GodGeorge Herbert (1593-1633) and R.S. Thomas (1913-2000), each a major English poet and an Anglican priest, lived in very different times, one before the Scientific Revolution, the Enlightenment, and industrialization, and one following. Yet the two men and their poetry bear striking resemblances: Both loved nature and music, both were pacifists, and both struggled with the claims of faith, the nature of the spiritual life, and the recurrent silences of God. This book demonstrates that when their lives and poems are studied side by side, each man enhances our understanding of the other. The first essay deals with their sense of calling as priests and poets. The work then explores topics that relate to their roles as parish priests: ministry, the Bible, the Eucharist, and prayer. Several essays follow dealing with broader questions of the human condition: faith, sin, love, reason and science, and nature. The work concludes by considering their poems about Christmas, Good Friday, and Easter. |
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... thou ! how suddenly May our requests thine eare invade ! To shew that state dislikes not easinesse , If I but lift mine eyes , my suit is made : Thou canst no more not heare , than thou canst die . Of what supreme almightie power Is thy ...
... thou bee so As thou art evry - where ; Or rather so , as thou alone Tak'st all the Lodging , leaving none ffor thy poore creature there ? ffirst I am sure , whether bread stay Or whether Bread doe fly away Concerneth bread , not mee ...
... Thou , whose glorious , yet contracted light , Wrapt in nights mantle , stole into a manger ; Since my dark soul and brutish is thy right , To Man of all beasts be not thou a stranger : Furnish & deck my soul , that thou mayst have A ...
Contents
Preface | 1 |
The Vocations of Priest and Poet | 13 |
Country Parsons | 36 |
Copyright | |
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Poets' Meeting: George Herbert, R.S. Thomas, and the Argument with God William J. McGill Limited preview - 2003 |