Religious Poet Research Articles

A Stylistic Study of "The Windhover" by Gerard Manley Hopkins

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is the greatest religious poet and Jesuit priest of the Victorian age who was born in London in the rapidly changing time, fundamentals, visions and sights. He wrote many poems such as “The Windhover”, “The Wreck of the Deutschland”, “God’s Grandeur”, “Spelt from Sibyl’s Leaves”, “I Wake and feel the fell of dark, not day”, “Carrion Comfort”, “Pied Beauty”, “Felix Randal”, “Binsey Poplars” and “Thou art indeed just, Lord” but none of them was published in his life. when he decided to become a Jesuit, he burned all his literary works as he felt that they were against the principles of his Catholic religion. His friend, Robert Bridge kept a copy of his poems and published them in 1918. As a Jesuit priest, Hopkins infused his personal religious devotion into his poetry. The Windhover reflects his intense spiritual connection. For him The Windhover is “the best thing I ever wrote”. The Windhover is not the love poem which is addressed to any person, (even though “To Christ our Lord”), but to the life itself. The Windhover is the masterpiece of Hopkins style, imagery, in which he fuses the beauty of nature with the divine and religious believes. In order to reach his goal, Hopkins used figures of speech, sprung rhythm and different forms of sound patterning. This study is a stylistic analysis of The Windhover from the graphological, phonological, lexical, structural and semantic points of view. The Windhover stands out for its innovative style, vivid imagery, and seamless integration of nature and faith, a combination that distinguishes it from other religious poems. Keywords: Gerard Manley Hopkins, Victorian poet, The Windhover, Stylistic Study.

Gods and people in literature and philosophy. God by the picture of human or human by the picture of god? Homeric vision of reality versus Heraclitus’ vision of reality

The article deals with the theological issues of Homer and Heraclitus. The analysis of the works of Homer and the philosophical thought of Heraclitus serves to compare and contrast them extracting significant differences regarding the image of god and man. The author develops both literary and philosophical understanding of gods. She compares the man-god relationship in early Greek literature and philosophy. There is an interesting intrinsic tension in the literary tropes that can only be understood if the religious function of this literature is taken into account. The author tries to describe the vision of the world and the place of human beings in it in both sources: literature and philosophy. In philosophical writings, there can be seen a movement in the vision of the world structure: the gods become more inaccessible to humans, but humans gain the opportunity to become godlier if they follow a proper set of thoughts and actions proposed by philosophy. Religious poets were speaking of the past when the gods were approachable to people. Their fantasies were often mixed with old beliefs so that the divine-human world has as much wonder and eccentricity as dread. Philosophy conquers not only minds but also hearts, to convey them towards the ideal, bearing in mind the unattainable model of a virtuous man. While religion describes gods similar to humans, philosophy forges a new god-resemblant human figure.

Technical Means in the Neo-Avant-Garde by Stanislav Krasovitsky

The article deals with the introduction of new technical devices by Russian religious poet Stanislav Krasovitsky, which connects the tradition of zaum in the avant-garde with the search for a new mystery. As a pioneer of religious poetry during the Thaw period, Krasovitsky anticipated the mystery turn in Soviet culture: the use in rock operas, films and animations of the mystery plot as capable of uniting the various symbols of world culture. For Krasovitsky, the main technical device is the introduction of new letters into the Russian alphabet, taken from Greek and Latin, which allow conveying visual impressions through an unusual combination of sounds and creating a special atmosphere of mystery. It is shown that this project by Krasovitsky is closely related to the development of semiotics and cybernetics and the understanding of scripts as implementing programmed pragmatics in special operational symbols. Krasovitsky did not engage in poetic production for more than two decades, preferring religious asceticism, but at the same time he developed a theoretical justification for his turn from the avant-garde to mystery along the lines of the acts of the Baroque era. He constructed a consistent historiosophy in which paganism, the cult of Apollo, and Christianity were the three stages in the acquisition of truth, and each stage corresponded to its signs, letters, and symbols, containing both semantics and iconically marked pragmatics. This allowed Krasovitsky to combine reflections on the nature of letters with reflections on ritual, and to create late poetry already simply as legitimizing his own priestly rituals. This study allows us to clarify the peculiarities of perception of religious and philosophical issues in the culture of the Soviet period and show how formal experiments, including those supported by a specific medium of typewriter, allowed a new arrangement of verbal and visual elements in the work.

Motiv blagovesti kao biblijski podtekst u poeziji Ivana V. Lalića

Ivan V. Lalić, a poet who marked the last decades of the 20th century, belongs to the group of highly religious poets of the neo-symbolist movement. In the existing criticism, the biblical subtext of his poetry has been noticed, but some moments have not been given suf-fi-cient attention. And while the motif of Annunciation is much noticed and covered in criticism, some other theophanic aspects have been given little or no attention, even though they are precisely the context for proper understanding of Lalić's understanding of Annunciation. These are Old Testament scenes, primarily related to the forefather Abraham, Jacob, the exodus and the three young men in the fiery furnace. The author of the article devotes himself to these scenes, bringing them into connection with Lalić's understanding of Annunciation as a kind of point of resolution of cosmic, historical and personal tensions.

Die verwantskap tussen khôra en die mistiek in M.M. Walters se gedig ‘Die groot stilte’

The relationship between khôra and mysticism in M.M Walter’s poem ‘Die groot stilte’. In view of M.M. Walters’ recent death (28 Julie 2020), it is timeous to pay homage to him by focusing on a lesser-known aspect of his poetry, namely mysticism. This article aims to demonstrate the relationship between the mysterious and enigmatic Platonic concept khôra and mysticism, and to subsequently indicate how this is expressed in the poem ‘Die groot stilte’ (in the volume Sprekende van God). Walters (1929–2020) was mainly a satirist, but also a poet of religious verse. However, he differentiated himself as an unconventional religious poet and alternative seeker of God. He opposed church dogma and believed that Christ should be sought in ways that go beyond simply accepting the church’s teachings. The article opens with a brief survey of the mystical tradition in Afrikaans poetry, after which the poetry of Walters is briefly described. Subsequently, the reception of his anthology Sprekende van God is discussed. After an introductory discussion of the khôra concept, his poem Die groot stilte is analysed in detail, and the relationship between khôra and mysticism explained. Pieter G.R. de Villiers (2020) maintains that Walters created striking poems with mystical content, and that he was often misunderstood by the clergy and orthodox believers as an enemy of religion and the church. Countering this, De Villiers observes that Walters was driven to seek a genuine, credible spirituality. De Villiers finds it unfortunate that this aspect of Walters’ poetry is not sufficiently recognised.Contribution: Based on the analysis and interpretation of ‘Die groot stilte’, the conclusion is reached that Walters can indeed be described as a mystical poet and that his mystical poetry can be regarded as part of the relatively small yield in mystical Afrikaans literature. This article adds to the equally small corpus of academic literature on mysticism in Afrikaans.

Qiyâm al-‘Ijtimâ’iyyah fî Syi’r Abî al-‘Atâhiyyah

Abu al-‘Atahiyah was famous for his ascetical poetry, but the researcher found that in Abu al-‘Atahiyah’s anthology, not all of his poems go with the ascetical theme’s only. Rather, there are also life values, such as social values ​​that establish other human foundations that spread bonds of mercy, love, tolerance, kindness, cooperation, observance of conscience, fear of God and other meanings. The parameters of the human formulation of society are defined in the Islamic conception. The theory used in this research is the theory of life values ​​by Noeng Muhadjir. The approach used in this research is the pragmatic approach. This approach prove that a literature work is a tool to achieve the aims of the creator of literature works, in addition to pleasure or entertainment also for the sake of enlightenment and education. This research found there are sixteen social values, and these social values show that Abu al-‘Atahiyah, who is known as a religious poet, is also a poet who pays attention to social life.

“All Aboard for Natchez, Cairo, and St. Louis”: Minstrelsy and Conversion in T.S. Eliot’s Ash-Wednesday

An important inspiration for T.S. Eliot's Ash-Wednesday is the minstrel comedy of The Two Black Crows. Both puzzling and obscure, this inspiration has not yet received the critical attention it deserves. By reading Eliot's interest in minstrel comedy alongside his concurrent religious conversion and change of citizenship, a fuller understanding of the poet's attempt to transform earlier influences into a new, Christian identity can emerge. In this way, minstrelsy proves to be an essential source of inspiration for both his early, pre-conversion writing, as others have shown, as well as for his later work as a conservative polemicist and religious poet.

To the Interpretation of the Poem «I Accept You, Orphanhood...»
 by Leonid Aronzon

Leonid Aronzon’s poem «I Accept You, Orphanhood...» develops the motives of Tsvetaeva’s poetry, which has just become available to the Soviet reader, but fits them into a more complex and not fully clarified context of service and Christian confession.
 The article reconstructs the line of reception of Tsvetaeva as a religious poet, whose radicalism can be interpreted as confession, due to which the most mysterious image of the poem can be clarified: a «gathering» of high souls, as a collective of poets, not individual choice. An appeal to various authors of Samiz-
 dat, such as David Zilberman, Viktor Aksyuchits, Viktor Krivulin and Olga Sedakova, as well as to Soviet books on hesychasm (V. Plugin and D. Likhachev) allows us to understand how multiple re-coding took place in the culture of Samizdat and Tsvetaeva’s position met the mysticism of Gregory Palamas.
 Grigory Palamas contrasted individual religiosity to the radically impersonal mysticism of returning to the Father’s house, which is reflected in the opposition of creative orphanhood to the semiotics of the icon (Zilberman, Krivulin), 
 the comparison of Tsvetaeva’s Roland the Armor-bearer with the prodigal son (Aksyuchits, Sedakova), the son of Isaac and the orphan as a creator (Krivulin). These parallels make it possible to reconstruct how Aronzon inscribed the poet’s
 orphanhood as the prodigal son and Tsvetaeva’s marginalized person in the history of common salvation.

The Letters of Charles Wesley, A Critical Edition, with Introduction and Notes: Volume 2, 1757–1788

Eight years ago I reviewed volume 1 for this journal. My first and most substantive point then was to congratulate the authors on tackling the hugely challenging project of publishing a critical edition of Charles Wesley’s letters. This task is made particularly difficult because of Charles Wesley’s extensive use of Byrom’s shorthand. Those congratulations are reiterated: only those who have engaged, in however small a way, with Charles Wesley’s original letters or faced the task, as I have, of tackling a body of correspondence where the received published corpus contrasts (sometimes radically) with the surviving originals can fully appreciate the magnitude of the undertaking.The result is a monumental contribution to scholarship around Charles Wesley, and thereby to the whole religious and cultural context of his times. It sits alongside other volumes of his writings—sermons, journal, poetry, other letters—that have appeared over the last three decades and now provide the reader with a formidable array of sources about this charming, sociable, spiritual, mercurial, and enigmatic individual who, if nothing else, was the key religious poet of his time and a great deal more.Although the second volume appears slighter smaller than the first, this is misleading as there are more pages. It is simply that Oxford University Press has used thinner paper, which is to be applauded as we look critically toward reducing environmental impact in small ways as well as large. Plus, incidentally, it makes the book easier to navigate, to say nothing of taking up less shelf space!But to the content. As previously, each letter is preceded by brief notes about the addressee; the source and type of the document from which the text is taken; date and address from which the letter was written, with additional information as appropriate. Footnotes follow each letter, rather than being at the foot of each page: while more annotation might have been welcome, the exigencies of such a wide-ranging undertaking have already been stated, and economy of space is likely also to be a factor.Given my own extensive research on John Fletcher’s correspondence with Charles Wesley, I turned to those letters first in this volume. Jean de la Fléchère (later to become Revd John Fletcher) probably arrived in Britain in 1749 (not 1750—the Dictionary of Evangelical Biography [470] is not the most accurate source). While I was more than pleased with how all but one have been treated, I was puzzled that the first (under ‘undated letters’ [18]) is only part of a longer letter to both John and Mary Fletcher of 13 March 1782 to which, by internal evidence, the editors should have had access.When Charles Wesley wrote to John and Mary Fletcher on 24 May and 21 June 1785 (416–18, 420–2), these are treated as separate letters, although noted as ‘on the same sheet’. In these cases, it might have been preferable to treat them as a single letter.Another issue is the repetition of several letters, such as that which appears in ‘undated letters’ (20) as to James Hutton, c.1774–75 but makes a further appearance (250) as October 1771. There are a number of such instances, the most puzzling being one as to John Wesley (281–3) of 20 January 1774, but which reappears twice more (288–90, 291–3) as to John Horton or John Wesley, and 19/26 June 1774. Granted, the latter two are nineteenth-century copies, and there are slight variations: but some notes of explanation would have been helpful.There are bound to be much lesser oversights in a work so challenging as this, for which allowance must always be made. Joseph Pilmore (482) was not born in ‘Tadmouth’ (there is no such place in Britain!) but in Fadmoor, rural north Yorkshire. William Ley (477) was not mentioned in John Wesley’s final will but in one made in 1770 (both DEB again). I am grateful to collegial scholars for drawing my attention to these lacunæ.I conclude with words with which I ended my previous review: ‘this remains a massively laudable achievement . . . This volume of eighteenth-century correspondence deserves to have a wide readership well beyond the realms of Methodist studies or church history for it is a significant body of material for literary scholars or other historians.’

جهود حسان بن ثابت رضي الله عنه في الدفاع عن الإسلام Efforts of Hassan bin Thabet in Defending Islam

Hassan bin Thabet, companion of the Prophet PBUH is commonly referred to as the poet of the Prophet and Islam. He died in Madinah 674 at the age of one hundred and twenty years. He has produced many poems and poetry in the defense of Prophet Muhammad SAAW and Islam. His writings in defense of Muhammad contain references to contemporary events that have been useful in documenting the period. He was also Islam's first religious poet, using many phrases from the Qur'an in his verses. The work of Hassan Ibn Thabit was instrumental in spreading the message of Muhammad, as poetry was an important part of Arab culture. The purpose of this article is to analyze his contribution to the defense and Prophet of Islam. The article also highlights the worth of his poetry along with his biography. The method used in this research is descriptive and analytical.

Chaucer's Prayers: Writing Christian and Pagan Devotion

Chaucer's Prayers: Writing Christian and Pagan Devotion

Religious Poetry of Hopkins and Iqbal: A Comparative Study

Hopkins and Iqbal have not been explored together although both share many common concerns. In the light of their works and faith, an attempt will be made to establish them as the poets of religious order and their relevance to the modern age. Iqbal was a Muslim and Hopkins a Catholic Christian by faith. Both try to tread the path in their own ways to reach the ultimate. There is a unity of vision between them in the ultimate analysis which can be seen in their different works like Hopkin’sThe Wreck of the Deutschland, Nondum and The Windhover, and Iqbal’s Bal-e-Jibril, Armaghan-e-Hijaz etc. They will be examined to establish the differences / similarities between them. Hopkins is a religious poet who first turns to the exploration of his own personality to test the validity of religious experience. The Wreck of Deutschland, The Habit of Perfection, Nondum and The Windhover are some of his poems with valuable revelation of his spiritual experience. All the poems of Hopkins with the exception of a few imply the presence of a God of infinite goodness and beauty in nature and the deliverance of man from death by faith in God. Iqbal was a Muslim by faith. Indeed the religious motif is the axis on which Iqbal’s whole system of thought revolves, and which is reflected in his poetry as strongly as his prose writings, though he is interested in a wide range of subjects. Religion, philosophy and theology make the same queries about the destiny of man, and these three forces are blended together in Iqbal’s works. Religion is described by Iqbal as a power of utmost importance in the life of individuals as well as nations. Iqbal has tried in both poetical and philosophical ways of expression to manifest his ideal of religion as a force which means to find one’s self. Hence, this research will be an attempt to unfold this unity of vision and perspective. The works of both poets will be minutely analysed for the similarity of their religious content and message. Hopkins and Iqbal use poetry as a means to articulate their convictions. This research will be an attempt to explore the striking relevance between two religious poets of the East and the West. Both of them seek salvation in the spiritual realm of religion. In this research, an attempt will be made to compare and analyse their responses to the modernity of 20th century. The present study will also look for the similarities and dissimilarities in their works.

Marian Literary Culture: Lydgate, his Heirs, and the End of Tragedy

Marian Literary Culture: Lydgate, his Heirs, and the End of Tragedy

Dream, Bliss, and the Shaping of Emotional Meaning in Beowulf

<i>Dream</i>, <i>Bliss</i>, and the Shaping of Emotional Meaning in <i>Beowulf</i>

Religious Reform Trends in IfraneAtlas-Alsaghir: The Traditional Coranic School of Tankert as a Model

In the 14th century AH, a movement of religious and literary renaissance emerged in the oasis of Ifrane Atlas-Alsaghir that was called “The valley of the poets”. The religious jurists (الفقهاء) and the poets in this region are still contributing to literary and religious knowledge in the southern souss region, and in the Maghreb in general. The total of what was mentioned by the Ifranian poets reached more than twenty thousand verses of poetry, in addition to other works of prose and rhetoric as stated by Muhammad Al-MukhtarAlsoussi in his book Al-Maassoul (المعسول).&#x0D; This study aims to investigate into the roles of the traditional religious school of TankertinIfrane Atlas-Alsaghir, and its contribution in the field of intellectual and literary knowledge production in the domains of poetry, Sufism, and religious education. This paper will also provide an overview of the role of some prominent Ifranian local families in the emergence of Sufi trends like Ennasiriyah(الناصرية), Darqawi (الدرقاوية), and Tijania(التيجانية) religious movements. Furthermore, this study will shed more light on the social roles of the prominent religious poets and jurists who taught jurisprudence, literature and Sufism in this traditional Coranic School

Функційно-стилістичне навантаження порівняльних конструкцій у «Філософських містеріях» митрополита Іларіона

The paper examines the comparative constructions that function in the «Philosophical Mysteries» of Metropolitan Ilarion. The structure, semantics and sty-listic role in the text are outlined. It was found that the use of comparative construc-tions is a means of expressing the author’s modality, which helps to reproduce the emotional state, deepen thought, give expressiveness to the text. The recorded com-parative constructions testify to the richness of the writer’s language and the skillful use of linguistic means in the artistic refl ection of the spiritual world.«Philosophical Mysteries» consists of the philosophical trilogy «The Sea of Life», the mysteries of «Cain and Abel», «Enough innocent blood! Kholmshchyna», «Native language», «Ruin and Resurrection». In the afterword, the author called himself a re-ligious poet, and his poems – religious poetry. In these mysteries we record a large number of comparisons and comparative constructions (over three hundred units). Such a signifi cant number of comparative constructions emphasizes the text, promotes im-agery, and deepens the reader into the spiritual world. The stylistic role of comparisons is to highlight a feature of an object or phenomenon, which stands out very clearly in the object with which a particular phenomenon is compared. With the help of comparisons, the author conveyed the national atmosphere, artistic and symbolic worldview. The writer chose the usual images for Ukrainian culture (sun, stars, nature, spring, fl owers, poplars, etc.) as objects of comparison. The writer embodies nature, its comparison is due to the poetic thinking of the people and the peculiarities of his worldview.

Why Did Milton Land in China Earlier than Shakespeare?

Abstract As far as we know, Milton was first introduced into China in 1832, and Shakespeare in 1839–1840. Why did Milton land in China earlier than Shakespeare? Their different routes of cultural migration into China are largely conditioned by sociohistorical forces. With keener interest in Milton for his identity as a religious poet, the Western missionaries in China cherished Milton's educational value, but were not so interested in literature per se or the entertainment value of Shakespeare. On the other hand, the Chinese educated audience seemed more captivated by the more secular and more spectacular Shakespeare, the quintessence of British cultural imperialism. In China's early reception, Shakespeare was more enjoyed as a storyteller and a dramatist. Unlike Milton, Shakespeare boasted the advantage of the stage, which makes the Bard excel his rival in their visibility in China at the turn of the twentieth century.

X The Seventeenth Century: Part II

Abstract This chapter has five sections: 1. General; 2. Poetry Excluding Dryden; 3. Restoration Drama Excluding Dryden; 4. Dryden; 5. Poetry and Prose. Section 1 is by William Baker; section 2 is by Ryan Netzley and is divided into six parts: (a) Marvell; (b) Traherne; (c) Vaughan; (d) Cowley; (e) Herrick; (f) Metaphysical and Religious Poets; sections 3 and 4 are by Jennifer Airey; section 5 is by William Baker and is divided into five parts: (a) Hobbes; (b) Locke; (c) Bunyan; (d) Aubrey, Walton, and Bishop Tillotson; (e) Rochester.

جوانسال بگٹی کے کلام میں مذکور اسلامی تعلیمات کا تجزیاتی مطالعہ اور اثرات

Balochi language is the language of poor people of the rich land. Balochi literature has its own beauty like many other literatures of the world. It has diffused its fragrances in the heart of people who were living in the huts. Baluchistan is highly known as a well-off area and the almighty Allah has blessed the region with several natural resources. Apart from this, well known poets have also been gifted to this land by almighty Allah. However, a poet in later nineteenth century from Dera bugti, put his foot steps on this land, he is highly known as one of the greatest Baloch poet whose name is Jawansal Bugti He was purely religious unmatched poet and master of spiritual lines Islam is very simple and easy to be practiced by everyone either educated or under called in this article Jawansal Bugti religious poetry effects on society. The study was survey based,results and findings suggest that the religious poetry has affects a society for Islamic teachings.

Przekład jako próba „przyświadczenia”. Wokół wiersza Stanisława Barańczaka Pięć pocztówek od i do Emily Dickinson

Translation as a Test of Assent: Stanisław Barańczak’s Poem Five Postcards from and to Emily Dickinson Stanisław Barańczak is well known not only as a poet, but also as an extremely prolific translator who became famous for translating the works of Shakespeare and British and American poets. In the 1980s, just before and immediately after his forced political emigration to the United States, he extensively translated religious poets (e.g. ‘metaphysical poets’, Gerard Manley Hopkins, Emily Dickinson). This was a rather surprising choice, given the fact that Barańczak was an agnostic, distrustful of the world of religion. On the other hand, however, it was at that time that he introduced in his own poetry (“Atlantis”, “A Postcard from this World”) phrases testing the possibility of religious “real assent” (John Henry Newman’s term). It seems that for Barańczak translation of some poets becomes not only an opportunity to broaden the scope of the Polish language and improve his own technique, but also an attempt to “assent” to the religious vision of the world, which is evoked by the lyric of the poets he admired. The poem Five Postcards from and to Emily Dickinson seems to support such an interpretation. My analyses are inspired by scholars of Barańczak’s work, as well as by those who study literature and religion: Paul Ricoeur and Charles Taylor.