Christian Poetry Considered

Tag: English

  • ‘Portugal, 1912’ by Alice Meynell (1847-1922)

    And will they cast the alters down, Scatter the chalice, crush the bread? In field, in village and in town He hides an unregarded head; 4 Waits in the corn-lands far and near, Bright in His sun, dark in His frost, Sweet in the vine, ripe in the ear Lonely, unconsecrated Host 8 In ambush…

  • ‘This Endris Night’ Anonymous (15th century)

    This endris night I saw a sight, A star as bright as day, And ever among, a maiden sung, ‘Lullay, by, by, lullay.’ This lovely lady sat and sung, And to her child did say, “My son, my brother, father, dear, Why liest thou thus in hay? 8 My sweetest bird, thus ‘tis required, Though…

  • ‘Heaven Haven’ by Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889)

    I have desired to goWhere springs not fail,To fields where flies no sharp and sided hailAnd a few lilies blow.And I have asked to beWhere no storms come.Where the green swell is in the havens dumb,And out of the swing of the sea. Considering the Poem Apart from telling us something we didn’t know, or…

  • ‘Twice’ by Christina Rossetti (1830-1894)

    I took my heart in my hand (O my love, O my love), I said: Let me fall or stand, Let me live or die, But this once hear me speak (O my love, O my love)— Yet a woman’s words are weak; You should speak, not I. 8 You took my heart in your…

  • ‘The Salutation’ by Thomas Traherne (1637-1674)

    These little limbs,These eyes and hands which here I find,These rosy cheeks wherewith my life begins, Where have ye been? Behind 4What curtain were ye from me hid so long?Where was, in what abyss, my speaking tongue When silent I So many thousand, thousand yearsBeneath the dust did in a Chaos lie, 9 How could…

  • ‘The Clod and the Pebble’ by William Blake (1757-1827)

    “Love seeketh not itself to please, Nor for itself has any care, But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hell’s despair.” 4 So sung a little Clod of Clay Trodden with the cattle’s feet, But a Pebble of the brook Warbled out these metres meet: 8 “Love seeketh only self to…

  • ‘Crossing the Bar’ by Alfred Tennyson (1809-1892)

    Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell,…

  • ‘The Divine Image’ by William Blake (1757-1827)

    To Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love All pray in their distress; And to these virtues of delight Return their thankfulness. For Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is God, our father dear, And Mercy, Pity, Peace, and Love Is Man, his child and care. For Mercy has a human heart, Pity a human face, And Love,…