From Malcolm Guite: A Sonnet for George Herbert

New post on Malcolm Guite

A Sonnet for George Herbert by malcolmguite Gentle exemplar, help us in our trials On February 27th the Church of England keeps the feast and celebrates the memory of George Herbert, the gentle poet priest whose book the Temple, published posthumously in 1633 by his friend Nicholas Ferrar has done so much to help and inspire Christians ever since. In an earlier blog post I gave a talk on George Herbert and the Insights of Prayer, today, on the eve of his Feast Day, I offer this sonnet, part of a sequence called 'Clouds of Witness" in my poetry book The Singing Bowl. The sequence is a celebration of the saints, intended to complement my sequence Sounding the Seasons. You can get this book in the UK by ordering it from your local bookshop, or via Amazon, and I am very happy to say that both books are now available in North America from Steve Bell who has a good supply in stock. His page for my books is HERE As always you can hear me read the sonnet by clicking on the title or the 'play' button. 1234166-george-herbert.mp3 George Herbert Gentle exemplar, help us in our trials, With all that passed between you and your Lord, That intimate exchange of frowns and smiles Which chronicled your love-match with the Word. Your manuscript, entrusted to a friend, Has been entrusted now to every soul, We make a new beginning in your end And find your broken heart has made us whole. Time has transplanted you, and you take root, Past changing in the paradise of Love, Help me to trace your temple, tune your lute, And listen for an echo from above, Open the window, let me hear you sing, And see the Word with you in everything. malcolmguite | February 26, 2018 at 9:56 am | Tags: canterbury press, christianity, George Herbert, literature, Sonnets, Steve Bell | Categories: christianity, politics | URL: https://wp.me/pj0Sl-1iy

A Lenten and Easter Journey

The Word in the Wilderness, a Journey through Lent by malcolmguite As we approach Lent I have been asked if I would post again the poems, recordings and images which accompany my Lent anthology Word in the Wilderness, and I am happy to do so as I know there are a number of groups reading the book together who might find it helpful to have the recordings. So I have recorded each of the poems in the Lent book, as I did for the Advent one. Whereas in Advent I posted a recording each day, along with a beautiful image from Lancia Smith, what Lancia and I have decided to do for Lent is to offer you weekly posts. Each post will be headed by a beautiful image from Lancia and then contain links to recordings of all seven poems for that week as well as the texts of the poems themselves, though for my commentary on each text you will need to turn to the book itself. We will start with an introductory post that takes us from Shrove Tuesday, through Ash Wednesday to the 1st Sunday in Lent and then each subsequent post will come out on each of the Sundays in Lent. I hope you find this helpful and please feel free to share it. Those who are using the book in weekly Lent groups this year my find it particularly helpful to have all the weeks readings gathered on one page. If you would like to join an online reading group to follow this book through Lent then you might like to join the Literary Life Facebook Group run by Rick Wilcox  You can get copies of Word in the Wilderness by ordering from your local bookshop (if you're in England go for the excellent Sarum College Bookshop) or through this page on Amazon UK and this one on Amazon USA As an appetiser, and to give you an idea of my reasons for compiling this anthology here are the opening paragraphs of my introduction: Why might we want to take time in Lent, to immerse ourselves in poetry, to ask for the poets as companions on our journey with the Word through the wilderness? Perhaps it is one of the poet’s themselves who can answer that question. In The Redress of Poetry, the collection of his lectures as Oxford Professor of Poetry, Seamus Heaney claims that poetry ‘offers a clarification, a fleeting glimpse of a potential order of things ‘beyond confusion’, a glimpse that has to be its own reward’ (p. xv). However qualified by terms like ‘fleeting’, ‘glimpse’ and ‘potential’, this is still a claim that poetry, and more widely the poetic imagination, is truth-bearing; that it offers not just some inner subjective experience but as Heaney claims, a redress; the redress of an imbalance in our vision of the world and ourselves. Heaney’s claim in these lectures, and in his Nobel Prize acceptance speech, is that we can ‘Credit Poetry’, trust its tacit, intuitive and image-laden way of knowledge. I have examined these claims in detail elsewhere (Faith Hope and Poetry) and tried to show, in more academic terms, how the poetic imagination does indeed redress an imbalance and is a necessary complement to more rationalistic and analytical ways of knowing. What I would like to do in this book is to put that insight into practice, and turn to poetry for a clarification of who we are, how we pray, how we journey through our lives with God and how he comes to journey with us. Lent is a time set aside to re-orient ourselves, to clarify our minds, to slow down, recover from distraction, to focus on the values of God’s Kingdom and on the value he has set on us and on our neighbours. There are a number of distinctive ways in which poetry can help us do that and in particular the poetry I have chosen for this anthology. Heaney spoke of poetry offering a glimpse and a clarification, here is how an earlier poet Coleridge, put it, when he was writing about what he and Wordsworth were hoping to offer through their poetry, which was "awakening the mind’s attention to the lethargy of custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us; an inexhaustible treasure, but for which, in consequence of the film of familiarity and selfish solicitude, we have eyes, yet see not, ears that hear not, and hearts that neither feel nor understand." (Coleridge, Biographia Literaria, Vol. II, pp. 6−7)

Hildegard of Bingen - Doctor of the Universal Church

Hildegard of Bingen has been a favourite of The Editor's for a  very long time.

The Editor is indebted to The Reverend Dr Malcolm Guite for this contribution from his blog.

 Saint Hildegard of Bingen, professed nun of the Order of Saint Benedict, to be a Doctor of the Universal Church. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.

Hildegard of Bingen: A Sonnet by malcolmguite Tending the tree of Life by Hildegard of Bingen The 17th of September is the feast day of Abbess Hildegard of Bingen, a remarkable and prophetic woman, who described herself as 'a feather on the breath of God', and whose many works in theology, music, visual art, poetry and drama are still inspiring people today. Indeed she is coming more and more into her own, as one of her key ideas 'Viriditas', or the greening and life-renewing work of the Holy Spirit, seems especially apposite for our time. See this page on her by a contemporary Benedictine. Appropriately for Hildegard's day, I will be taking part in a service at Ely Cathedral this evening at 6:30pm called Dark Reflections: Poetry Environment and Lament Do come along if you can. The photo below is by Margot Krebs Neale I wrote this sonnet at Launde Abbey in Leicestershire where I shall be giving an Advent retreat next year. It is published in my new volume of poetry The Singing Bowl, Canterbury Press,  available on Amazon in both the US and the UK As always you can hear the sonnet by clicking on the play button or the title. 1603489-hildegarde-of-bingen.mp3 Hildegard of Bingen A feather on the breath of God at play, You saw the play of God in all creation. You drew eternal light into each day, And every living breath was inspiration. You made a play with every virtue playing, Made music for each sister-soul to sing, Listened for what each herb and stone was saying, And heard the Word of God in everything. Mother from mother earth and Magistra,  Your song revealed God's hidden gift to us; The verdant fire, his holy harbinger The greening glory of viriditas. 'Cherish this earth that keeps us all alive' Either we hear you, or we don't survive. Photo by Margot Krebs Neale

Benedict - author of The Rule, founder of Western Monasticism

From the blog of Malcolm Guite

A sonnet for St. Benedict

On July the 11th the Church celebrates the feast of St. Benedict of Nursia, the gentle founder of the Benedictine order and by extension the father of Monasticism. A moderate and modest man he would have been astonished to learn that his ‘simple school for prayer’, his ‘modest rule for beginners’ led to the foundation of communities which kept the Christian flame alight through dark ages, preserved not only Christian faith, scripture, and culture,but also the best of Classical Pagan learning and culture, fed the poor, transformed societies, promoted learning and scholarship, and today provides solace, grounding, perspective and retreat not only to monks and nuns but to millions of lay people around the world.
Here is my sonnet for Benedict, drawing largely on phrases from the Rule, I dedicate it to the sisters at Turvey Abbey. It appears in my second book with Canterbury Press, The Singing Bowl

As always you can hear the sonnet by clicking on the ‘play’ button or the title.

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Benedict

You sought to start a simple school of prayer,
A modest, gentle, moderate attempt,
With nothing made too harsh or hard to bear,
No treating or retreating with contempt,
A little rule, a small obedience
That sets aside, and tills the chosen ground,
Fruitful humility, chosen innocence,
A binding by which freedom might be found

You call us all to live, and see good days,
Centre in Christ and enter in his peace,
To seek his Way amidst our many ways,
Find blessedness in blessing, peace in praise,
To clear and keep for Love a sacred space
That we might be beginners in God’s grace.

Common Ground 2015 - voice, identity, and the role of faith in our everyday lives

Multicultural Arts Victoria Inc. shared their event.

Sponsored · 

Spoken word and music, celebrating the voice in its many forms and exploring identity and the role of faith in our everyday lives

19

SEPT

Join

Common Ground 2015

Sat 6 PM · Village Roadshow Theatrette, State Library of Victoria · Melbourne

by Multicultural Arts Victoria Inc.

Common Ground 2015 - Poetry and Spoken Word

Religions for Peace Australia

Victoria: Common Ground - Poetry and Spoken Word

Thursday, 16 July 2015

 

 

Common Ground 2015 will be a unique, multilingual project that utilizes poetry, spoken word, sound and film to build connections and understanding between young people of diverse faiths and cultures in Melbourne. Over an eight-week series of free workshops at the State Library of Victoria, facilitators and artists Abdul Hammoud, Ebony Moncrief and Sukhjit Khalsa will be collaborating with budding wordsmiths to create new poetry and spoken word pieces exploring identity and role of faith in our everyday lives.

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Are you interested in poetry and spoken word?

Common Ground 2015 will be a unique, multilingual project that utilizes poetry, spoken word, sound and film to build connections and understanding between young people of diverse faiths and cultures in Melbourne. Over an eight-week series of free workshops at the State Library of Victoria, facilitators and artists Abdul Hammoud, Ebony Moncrief and Sukhjit Khalsa will be collaborating with budding wordsmiths to create new poetry and spoken word pieces exploring identity and role of faith in our everyday lives.

On Saturday 19 September from 2pm-4pm at the State Library of Victoria’s Village Roadshow Theatrette, the poets will transform their papered confessions into spoken word by bringing their own voices and stories up to the microphone. A selection of the pieces created during this project will also be set to soundscapes created by Melbourne-based producer CAZEAUX O.S.L.O accompanied by a video produced by Rogue Pixel and released later in the year.

Common Ground was established in 2013 to create a space for young people from two faiths that are often religiously and racially vilified (Sikhism and Islam), to come together and use spoken word and poetry as a medium for dialogue, friendship and interaction. This year the Common Ground Collective wants to bring the project back to the community and encourage young people from diverse faith backgrounds to join the project. Common Ground’s capacity to represent diverse cultures, faiths and identities through creativity offers a wealth of possibilities. It an opportunity to create interfaith dialogue around shared experiences to promote cultural cohesion and understanding.

Common Ground Workshops

Event Information

Event:

When: Every Saturday, 25 July – 12 September 2015 (8 weeks) from 11am-1pm

Where: State Library of Victoria, 328 Swanston Street, Melbourne 3000

Cost: FREE (please register for workshops by contacting one of the community liaisons below)

Register: see below

Performance: Outcome on Saturday 19 September, 2pm-4pm at the State Library of Victoria.

Registration / more information

• please contact the Community Liaisons:
• Ajit Singh 0413 172 357
• Amona Hassab 0423 682 508
• Zakia Baig 0469 925 341 ... or ...
• Jess Fairfax, Project Officer, Multicultural Arts Victoria, email or call 9188 3681
• Robyn Gawenda, Project Officer, Multicultural Arts Victoria, email or call 9188 3681.