Since the publication of the bestselling Sounding the Seasons, Malcolm Guite has repeatedly been asked for more sonnets. This new collection offers a sequence of 50 sonnets that focus on many passages in the Gospels: the Beatitudes, parables and miracles, teachings on the Kingdom, and the ‘hard sayings’ - Jesus’ challenging demands with which we wrestle. In addition this collection includes: •A sequence of seven sonnets on 'The Wilderness', exploring mysterious stories of divine encounter such as Jacob’s wrestling with the angel. •Poetic reflections on music, hospitality and ecology. •Seven short poems celebrating the days of creation. •A biblical index pairing the poems with scripture readings for use in worship.
This daily devotional of Bible-inspired poetry contains some of the most eloquent, inspiring, and profound poetry ever written. Readers will glean understanding, wisdom, and inspiration for life's struggles and victories. But most of all, they will learn more about their Savior and be inspired to devote their lives to him wholeheartedly. Includes indexes.
These two volumes list late-and mid-Victorian poets, with brief biographical information and bibliographical details of published works. The major strength of the works is the 'discovery' of very many minor poets and their work, unrecorded elsewhere.
For the first time, the poems and accompanying letters of Publilius Optatianus Porfyrius (Optatian) are published here with a translation and detailed commentary, along with a full introduction to Optatian's work during this period.Optatian was sent into exile by Constantine sometime after the Emperor's ascent to power in Rome in 312 AD. Hoping to receive pardon, Optatian sent a gift of probably twenty design poems to Constantine around the time of the ruler's twentieth anniversary (325/326 AD). To enable the reader to experience the multiple messages of the poems, the Latin text is presented near the English translation with any related design close by. Some poems, laid out on a grid of up to 35 letters across and down, have an interwoven poem marking key letters in the primary poem, thereby revealing a highlighted image. Some designs include the Chi-Rho or numerals created from V's and X's to mark imperial anniversaries. Other (previously unrecognised) designs seem to represent senatorial, imperial, military or bureaucratic motifs or to derive from coin images. Shape poems representing a water organ, an altar and a panpipe reveal their relevance immediately. The introduction and commentary elucidate literary allusions from over 100 authors (lines from Vergil, Ovid, Lucan, Silius Italicus, Statius, and lesser-known writers abound) and mythological references, mostly to the Muses and Apollo. Optatian's prestige as an official in both Greece and Rome is well attested - these poems mark Optatian as a fascinating writer of his time, holding onto the classical past while acknowledging Christian symbolism.
Breathe in Jesus and Other Poems is a collection of stories in poetry form that revolves within and around the writers life and those near herher family and circle of friends. It is the reflection of life itselfits beauty and bliss, wounds and scars brought by trials, and Gods own way of revealing Himself, lighting the path and directing those who seek Him. It is in the spirit of sharing and witnessing to the Lords glory and grace that events are unfolded and not on personal note to conceal what the general public may consider private. For it is said, Whoever boasts should boast in the Lord (2 Corinthians 10:17). Breathe in Jesus is meant to inspire the broken-hearted and those who suffer or are still undergoing persecution and loss in different degrees or measure. Not until one sees others suffering or loss could he understand himself and his situation, not until he is shown the manifestation of Gods intervention would enable him to reflect too and be able to see what the Lord has in store for him, and not until he calls on Him could he find God and be blessed by Him! It is on this motive that this book is written, for indeed, the Word of the Living God rules the human heart and makes it breathe in Jesus!
"Conjuring Jesus" presents a disarmingly fresh picture of Jesus as a mystic, a mischievous reformer, and a poet of the sensuous. It portrays him in his tumults and his moments of transcendence, his musings and stories, and his diverse encounters with women and men. Continually surprising in its perspectives, while closely based on Biblical texts, "Conjuring Jesus" reveals a man who is playful and resolute: moved by a keen and encompassing acceptance, a persistent impulse toward sinuous reshaping, and a liberating awareness of his own sexuality.
Anya Krugovoy Silver’s debut collection considers the flawed and gaudy flesh as it turns toward a beloved’s embrace, toward the surgeon’s knife. Her poems both celebrate the sensual world and seek to transcend the body’s limitations through encounters with art, memory, and the divine. At once imagistic, lyrical, and meditative, Silver’s verse begins in the personal sphere and then looks outward toward the wider human experiences of illness, faith, fear, and love. From chemotherapy to doing laundry, from observation of deformed pussy willows to contemplation of the word “girl,” Silver does not shrink from life’s “blazonry of loss.” Instead, she ultimately affirms the possibility of praise and joy.
