Entries from November 2008
THE DAWNING
AWAKE, sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns ;
Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth ;
Unfold thy forehead, gathered into frowns ;
Thy Saviour comes, and with Him mirth :
Awake, awake,
And with a thankful heart His comforts take.
But thou dost still lament, and pine, and cry,
And feel His death, but not His victory.
Arise, sad heart ; if thou dost not withstand,
Christ’s resurrection thine may be ;
Do not by hanging down break from the hand
Which, as it riseth, raiseth thee :
Arise, Arise;
And with His burial linen drie thine eyes.
Christ left His grave-clothes, that we might, when grief
Draws tears or blood, not want a handkerchief.
George Herbert
Categories: poetry
Tagged: george herbert metaphysical poetry dawning awake resurr
The Dying Christian To His Soul
Vital spark of heav’nly flame!
Quit, O quit, this mortal frame:
Trembling, hoping, ling’ring, flying,
O the pain, the bliss of dying!
Cease, fond Nature, cease thy strife,
And let me languish into life.
Hark! they whisper; angels say,
Sister Spirit, come away!
What is this absorbs me quite?
Steals my senses, shuts my sight,
Drowns my spirit, draws my breath?
Tell me, my soul, can this be death?
The world recedes; it disappears!
Heav’n opens on my eyes! My ears
With sounds seraphic ring!
Lend your wings! I mount, I fly!
O Grave! where is thy victory?
O Death! where is thy sting?
Alexander Pope
Categories: poetry
Tagged: alexander, christian, death, dying, grave, metaphysical, poetry, pope, soul, spirit, sting, victory
I have received a lot of flak from friends recently about the intermittency of my blog posts. In this digital-print-rich world, frequency is as important as volume and clarity, and I have been neglecting my blog at my own peril. Over the last two weeks, my blog has averaged two hits a day. Boy, if I cared about stats, that would be a real blow to my ego.
Anyway…I thought of an interesting series of posts for the next couple of weeks. I’ve always been a big fan of metaphysical poetry–that is, poetry that conveys spiritual and supernatural truths and insights. But I’ve noticed that many of the poems I take as the most fascinating are
- Not known by literary hacks (like me) because most of them think “metaphysical” means superstitious, and
- Not known by many of my Christian friends because most of them aren’t literary hacks (like me) and have seen little reason to investigate the history of poetics.
So. I’m going to start posting some of my favorites. I’ll post one every day or two, or maybe week, for as long as I can sustain such a thing…I’ll invite comments on each of the poems and then, in typical Schmidt-classroom style, pronounce my authoritative (ha! as if) interpretation after everyone has had her/his say.
I’m going to post the first poem tomorrow night, after (perhaps) some of my old audience have seen a flag on their RSS feeds that says schmidtty is posting again. I hope at least one of the five people who read this blog will encounter at least one new poem to add to her/his favorites…one person, one poem–that’s what I live for.
Cheers, everyone.
Categories: Uncategorized
