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Chapters Into Verse: Poetry in English Inspired by the Bible: Volume I: Genesis to Malachi
For generations, poets have turned to the Bible for insight and inspiration. What did so many creative minds find in scripture? Is the Bible still a vital source of poetic inspirations?
Chapters Into Verse is the first comprehensive collection ever made of poems written in English inspired by the Bible. A groundbreaking anthology, it introduces readers to a distinct heritage of English the scriptural tradition. Though frequently ignored and sometimes suppressed, this tradition rivals the classical and is every bit as venerable.
Drawing a unique map of the history of English poetry, the two volumes of Chapters Into Verse survey and define the literary legacy of the Scriptures from the fourteenth century to the present. Each volume is arranged in scriptural order, and each poem is preceded by the biblical passage that inspired it. Thus readers can conveniently witness the various ways sacred text has sparked the imagination of poets throughout the ages.
In Volume I, which covers Genesis to Malachi , almost every book of the Old Testament is represented. The collection features verses both famous and unfamiliar, from Milton's Paradise Lost and Lord Byron's Hebrew Melodies to Christopher Smart's hymns and Mary Herbert's psalms. The editors have included poems by virtually all the prominent religious poets--among them, John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Edward Taylor, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Included, too, are devotional and visionary works from a wide range of vintage poets--Robert Burns, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson, and Robert Browning.
Proving that the Bible is just as powerful a source of inspiration today as it was in the past, the collection assembles a mixed congregation of modern and contemporary poets, such as Marianne Moore, Delmore Schwartz, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, William Butler Yeats, Robert Lowell, Hugh McDiarmid, Laura (Riding) Jackson, Charles Reznikoff, A.D. Hope, Geoffrey Hill, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, John Ashbery, and Derek Walcott.
Of enduring interest to readers of both scripture and literature, this anthology illuminates key passages of the Old Testament. The measured speech and inspired leaps of poetry offer a spirited alternative to the textual exegesis usually supplied by prose commentary. As such, Chapters Into Verse is truly a poets' Bible. In selection after selection, readers will encounter an astonishing variety of religious experiences, as a host of poets from many eras and many backgrounds respond to Holy Scripture spiritually, profoundly, and imaginatively.
Chapters Into Verse is the first comprehensive collection ever made of poems written in English inspired by the Bible. A groundbreaking anthology, it introduces readers to a distinct heritage of English the scriptural tradition. Though frequently ignored and sometimes suppressed, this tradition rivals the classical and is every bit as venerable.
Drawing a unique map of the history of English poetry, the two volumes of Chapters Into Verse survey and define the literary legacy of the Scriptures from the fourteenth century to the present. Each volume is arranged in scriptural order, and each poem is preceded by the biblical passage that inspired it. Thus readers can conveniently witness the various ways sacred text has sparked the imagination of poets throughout the ages.
In Volume I, which covers Genesis to Malachi , almost every book of the Old Testament is represented. The collection features verses both famous and unfamiliar, from Milton's Paradise Lost and Lord Byron's Hebrew Melodies to Christopher Smart's hymns and Mary Herbert's psalms. The editors have included poems by virtually all the prominent religious poets--among them, John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Edward Taylor, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Included, too, are devotional and visionary works from a wide range of vintage poets--Robert Burns, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson, and Robert Browning.
Proving that the Bible is just as powerful a source of inspiration today as it was in the past, the collection assembles a mixed congregation of modern and contemporary poets, such as Marianne Moore, Delmore Schwartz, Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, William Butler Yeats, Robert Lowell, Hugh McDiarmid, Laura (Riding) Jackson, Charles Reznikoff, A.D. Hope, Geoffrey Hill, Denise Levertov, Philip Levine, John Ashbery, and Derek Walcott.
Of enduring interest to readers of both scripture and literature, this anthology illuminates key passages of the Old Testament. The measured speech and inspired leaps of poetry offer a spirited alternative to the textual exegesis usually supplied by prose commentary. As such, Chapters Into Verse is truly a poets' Bible. In selection after selection, readers will encounter an astonishing variety of religious experiences, as a host of poets from many eras and many backgrounds respond to Holy Scripture spiritually, profoundly, and imaginatively.
512 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1993
53 people want to read
About the author
Robert Atwan
254 books26 followersRobert Atwan has been the series editor of The Best American Essays since its inception in 1986. He has edited numerous literary anthologies and written essays and reviews for periodicals nationwide.
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
July 28, 2014
How does one review a volume of poetry? There's no way to take apart each individual poem--this is a hefty tome, one of two volumes, even. I will praise the editors who worked on this; for starters, it's a brilliant idea. English poetry about the Bible? Fascinating! And the layout is great--I thoroughly enjoyed the fact that they kept the relevant verses with their corresponding poems; for each piece, you knew what the author was writing about, in response to, in opposition against. Setting the verses in bold made it easier to keep them separate from the poetry visually, as well, which I liked.
I also applaud the decision to use the King James Bible (though I can see there would be fine arguments made for the NKJV or even the NIV, though I'm not as big a fan of that one). This particular translation, as explained here in the introduction, is such an incredibly important foundation for English Biblical translations, but also for the language of English itself.
The breadth of poetry represented here is what I really respect from this compilation. All time periods of written English are represented, from the earliest Renaissance pennings to modern free verse--and ideology is not a hindrance. There are poets who love the text, poets who hate the text, poets who hate the religion that uses the text, poets who just love the poetry of the text, and everything along the spectrum. Such an incredibly diverse assortment is simply a phenomenal addition to the world of poetic anthologies, and I'm so very glad I bought Volume Two with this. I look forward to seeing the responses the English-speaking world had to the New Testament, as much of the Old Testament-inspired work was absolutely beautiful. It inspired some of my own poetry writing in the small hours of the morning, and I can ask no more of a book than that.
I also applaud the decision to use the King James Bible (though I can see there would be fine arguments made for the NKJV or even the NIV, though I'm not as big a fan of that one). This particular translation, as explained here in the introduction, is such an incredibly important foundation for English Biblical translations, but also for the language of English itself.
The breadth of poetry represented here is what I really respect from this compilation. All time periods of written English are represented, from the earliest Renaissance pennings to modern free verse--and ideology is not a hindrance. There are poets who love the text, poets who hate the text, poets who hate the religion that uses the text, poets who just love the poetry of the text, and everything along the spectrum. Such an incredibly diverse assortment is simply a phenomenal addition to the world of poetic anthologies, and I'm so very glad I bought Volume Two with this. I look forward to seeing the responses the English-speaking world had to the New Testament, as much of the Old Testament-inspired work was absolutely beautiful. It inspired some of my own poetry writing in the small hours of the morning, and I can ask no more of a book than that.
January 3, 2010
Love the format and finding gems of poems amongst the dreck.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews