Thursday, May 03, 2007

Reading Poetry as a Spiritual Discipline

Here's a gift. Just as I launched my own "personal poetry month" where I'm consciously trying to spend more time writing and reading poetry, I find a recommendation of a recently published article on reading poetry as a spiritual discipline.

The article is by author T.M. Moore; it's called The World in a Ray of the Sun. Hat-tip to Hearts and Minds Book Notes Blog, which I really need to read more often because it always points me to wonderful books and articles. In fact, I just added Hearts and Minds to my sidebar list of blogs I love to visit.

I've only read the article once, but I've printed it out and will no doubt go back to it. There's much to treasure and ponder, including Moore's helpful analysis of three beautiful poems by Christian poets: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Denise Levertov, and Wendell Berry. I know all the poets, but all three poems were new to me, and they're gems.

Most of all, however, the article contains one of the most clearly written encouragements I've ever read about the importance of regular poetry reading as part of one's spiritual training and health. It makes me a bit wistful for a group of people with whom I could read poetry regularly.

4 comments:

Erin said...

My grandma often complains that people aren't interested in poetry anymore. I don't know if that's entirely true, but it does seem to get overlooked, and writing and reading it can definitely be an edifying experience on many levels!

Beth said...

I think your grandma is right! :-) At least, I don't think many people *read* much poetry anymore, and certainly most students are not made to read or memorize it in school very much these days. Something I hope to remedy as I homeschool the sweet girl! (She can already quote parts of her favorite poems!)

I am enjoying spending some more time with poetry this month, though haven't been able to do that as much as I'd hoped. I'm reading some poems by Wendell Berry and they've been wonderful. Do you know his work?

Erin said...

I know I read some of Wendell Berry poems in college but I don't recall now which ones... I'll reacquaint myself with him...

Beth said...

He may be best known for the poem "The Peace of Wild Things." Oddly enough, I first encountered that poem in an episode of ER (of all things!) several years ago. Alan Alda, one of my favorite actors, was guest starring in a recurring role, and he quoted it so movingly that I went to the internet to look up the poem. I was very happy to see it was by Wendell Berry -- I had read a bit of him during my college years. I'm only just now getting back to him, and I'm finding his poems to be emotionally stirring on so many levels. He's a farmer as well as a writer, so very tied to the land...