Your weekly slice of Poetry

Welcome to another edition of Poetry Pie! I hope you enjoy these selections as they encapsulate the beauty of Christ in excellent words.

Pied Beauty

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844—1889)

Much like many of the Psalms in the Bible, this poem offers praise to God for some of the beauties of Creation. What is in focus here are the "dappled things," anything that shows the character of non-uniformity. God certainly could have made the world to be completely homogeneous, completely uniform. But he shows glimpses of his infinity in the variations of Creation.

Hopkins has a unique style in stringing together unexpected and exciting words. There is strong alliteration, strings of adjectives, and an overall joy in vocabulary. Be a child and just enjoy the fun of the words at play. I can't read the final "Praise him" (a drastically shortened line) without smiling in complete delight.

Psalm 24

David

This Psalm is short but quite memorable. It parallels some of the Psalms that came before it, combining multiple different elements. It parallels Psalm 19 in declaring that the earth is YHWH's and it declares his glory, Psalm 15 by asking "who can ascend the hill?", and Psalms 20-22 in their focus on the King, his blessing, suffering, and exaltation. It's likely that there are chiastic elements at play here in the ordering of these Psalms.

But what makes me love this poem the most is the uniquely poetic way in which it ends.

Lift up your heads, O gates!
and be lifted up, O ancient doors,
that the King of glory may come in.

This personification of the gates being called to lift there heads and behold their King returning is exhilarating. There is so much glory attached to the image of a King returning to his city. Come, Lord Jesus!

His Saviour's Words Going To The Cross

Robert Herrick (1591-1674)

This poem is in the voice of Christ, calling out to those around him as he is going to the cross. Even in his sorrow and agony, he comforts his people, reminding them that he goes to the cross so that they won't have to. It is written in tercet stanzas with vivid descriptions of the agonies of crucifixion. In its stark language, it reminds us that our comfort came at the price of Christ's agony.

Righteous Lot

Abram Newcomer

This poem was published at the beginning of this year. It's always a good reminder to me that I am (ironically) more like Lot than I am Abram. It makes the fact that Lot was considered "righteous" even more comforting. Only by the grace and election of God could that be true!

I hope you enjoyed these poems! Take care.