Run, Shepherds, Run: Poems for Advent and Christmas

by L. William Countryman

The Advent season is filled with rich themes that have fascinated poets. In Run, Shepherds, Run, Bill Countryman presents a poem a day for devotional reading during Advent and the twelve days of Christmas. Readers will find classic poets they know and love, including George Herbert, John Donne, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, and Alfred, Lord Tennyson, as well as contemporary poets, known and unknown. Run, Shepherds, Run includes helpful hints for reading poetry, for those who have less experience reading it than others, as well as useful annotations to help readers with older language that may not have easily apparent meanings for today's readers.

Genres: Poetry, Christmas

100 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 2005

About the author

Bill Countryman is a retired seminary professor and Episcopal priest (still assisting at Good Shepherd Church in Berkeley, CA). He and his spouse, Jon Vieira, live in Oakland, CA, where he tends the garden and writes mostly poetry these days.

I'm a lover of poetry, classical music (with a particular fondness for choral and chamber music and for late-ninteenth-early-twentieth-century orchestral music. I spread my reading broadly: poetry, fiction, history, theology.

And I blog on gardening, reading the Scriptures, and whatever else interests me at billcountryman.com.

Reviews

[Hannah Glass · Rating 5 out of 5]

I desired more Scripture mixed in alongside the poems but the collection itself is wonderful. I enjoyed the layout and grouping of the poems and each advent day. The poems explore themes beyond just the birth of Christ: hell, longing, grief, motherhood, innocence of a child, heaven, waiting, coming resurrection. It was an enriching and peaceful way to start each day.

The collection is put together by traditional advent themes, and goes all the way until the feast of Epiphany (thus includes the twelve days of Christmas). It is more “high church” in style and discussion, which I enjoyed but might not be for everyone.

[Joseph R. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Countryman collects an assortment of poems for the Advent and Christmas seasons. There's a poem for each day, starting on the first day of Advent and ending on January 6, the Feast of the Epiphany (the celebration of the wise men visiting the infant Jesus and giving Him gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh). The poems run a good historical range, from the 1600s to the present day. They are written by a mixture of famous and less famous writers. Like many anthologies, the set is a mixed bag of good and average works, though I will admit my tastes in poetry are underdeveloped.

I liked the book for the most part though I do not think that in enhanced my yuletide spirituality, which seems to be the aim of Countryman, who is an Episcopalian priest. I may hunt around for a more edifying day-to-day Advent devotional.

Mildy recommended.

[Karen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent and stirring

A marvelous compilation of excellent poetry, and a good companion of the Advent and Christmas seasons. Recommend searching it out next November in time for Advent.

[Margaret D'Anieri · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a relative newbie to poetry, I found this anthology a lovely mix of poems - not just about Christmas but about longing, waiting, death and life, all themes of advent and of life. It also had just enough helpful introductions and notes where the language or references were unclear, without giving the poem away.