Abstract
Abstract: This article considers the continuing relationship between contemporary lyric poetry and prayer through readings of poems by Elizabeth Jennings (a British cradle-Catholic) and Louise Glück (an American of no professed religion). In different contexts, both turn to the concept of a "book of hours" for formal inspiration, and—like many contemporary poets—engage with prayer as a formal model for lyric poems. In a secular age this makes their lyrics self-reflexive, questioning lyric presence. Ultimately, however, prayer's formal involvement with lyric expression reveals that both prayer and lyric depend on a continuing capacity for (different kinds of) belief.
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