Your weekly slice of Poetry

Words are divine things. They did not originate with us - they were given to us by the Prologue (the "before-Word") of Creation. As images of God, we use our words to build relationships, stories, and worlds. As none of this belongs to us, it is only right that we offer words back to Him as sacrifices of thanksgiving and praise. This edition of Poetry Pie contains poems written to God, about God, and to each other regarding Him. I hope that these well-spoken words would be both edifying and delightful to you.

A Hymn to God the Father

John Donne (1572—1631)

This hymn of confession is terribly honest, almost too honest. Often, when we confess our sins, there is a portion of our mind that wants to say "I'm sorry God, this won't happen again." The more we sin and repent, the less we trust these words. This hymn is beautifully direct in acknowledging to God that his work of forgiveness of sin will be ongoing, "for I have more." The poem, like Herbert's Virtue, sets up a pattern that is changed and "solved" in the last stanza, all to wonderful effect for the reader.

Being a hymn, I searched for renditions of this poem set to music. I was able to find two recordings sung by choirs (both set to different music), which I will share here:

A Better Resurrection

Christina Rossetti (1830—1894)

Rossetti skillfully presents a prayer to Jesus in this three stanza poem. There are many themes embedded in these lines, such as the transition from the dead of Fall/Winter to the life of Spring and that of a potter reforming an old vessel into a new cup. This poem grabbed my attention many years ago by the technique she uses at the end of each stanza. Each stanza ends in a shortened line containing only three feet (trimeter) compared to the four feet (tetrameter) of the rest of the poem. This quicker ending helps create that dramatic effect as she leaves her plea with Jesus: "O Jesus, quicken me."

Strong Son of God
from "In Memoriam A.H.H."

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809—1892)

This poem is the prelude to an elegy that Tennyson wrote for a friend who had died. It addresses many topics, such as the relation of God and Creation, faith without sight, and the surprising reality of death. There are a fair number of memorable lines sprinkled throughout, such as:

Thou madest man, he knows not why,
He thinks he was not made to die;

and

Our wills are ours, we know not how,
Our wills are ours, to make them thine.

This poem, and the entirety of "In Memoriam," is written in iambic tetrameter, where each stanza has an ABBA rhyming scheme. This rhyming pattern is called an enclosed rhyme, and it has a something of a "cyclic" feel to it. The stanza ends with the same rhyme as the start, signifying a mini return home after the departure in the BB lines. Tennyson is such a master of creating sonorous and lyrical poetry, that I thoroughly enjoyed reading this (and will likely take on reading the full In Memoriam).

Holy War

Abram Newcomer

This sonnet is a self-addressing poem, where I, the author, am speaking to myself. This style of writing is done all over the place, notably in Psalm 103 as David tells his soul to "Bless the LORD" (v1). In this poem, I am calling my soul to stand firm against the attacks and temptations that "Death" is offering me. This poem has come to my mind countless times since I've written it, especially in the ways that it acknowledges how good sin seems in the moment and how empty it truly is.

It also contains one of my favorite Old Testament stories: 1 Samuel 5, in which the Ark of the Covenant is brought to the statue of Dagon in the Philistine temple. After two days, the statue is found on the ground with its head and hands severed. The statue is bowing before the Ark in submission to His power. What a breath-taking picture of the strength of God against his enemies!

Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great week!