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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... true . ' The poem seems not to be about the Scriptures at all , nor about the dealings of God with man , for how can The Word , the Good News , be reduced to " lonely " ? The poet takes the pen , struggles until the word appears , not ...
... true , / To thee of all kings onely due ) . " But the poem is not merely a prayer of thanksgiving , it is also , even more so , a plaintive cry : What can I possibly do to give proper thanks ? And the poem ends , " Then for thy passion ...
... true vine ? Then let each houre Of my whole life one grief devoure ; That thy distresse through all may runne , And be my sunne . Or rather let My severall sins their sorrows get ; That as each beast his cure doth knowe , Each sinne may ...
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 |