
Chapters into Verse
A Selection of Poetry in English Inspired by the Bible from Genesis through Revelation
Oxford University Press Inc
Published on 7. September 2000
Book
Paperback/Softback
512 pages
978-0-19-513676-0 (ISBN)
Description
Drawing a unique map of the history of English poetry, Chapters Into Verse surveys and defines the literary legacy of the Scriptures from the fourteenth century to the present. Arranged in scriptural order from Genesis to Revelation, the book presents each poem alongside the biblical passage that inspired it. Thus readers can conveniently witness the various ways sacred text has sparked the imagination of poets throughout the ages. The editors have included poems by virtually all the prominent religious poets--among them John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Edward Taylor, and Gerard Manley Hopkins. Included, too, are devotional and visionary works from a wide range of vintage poets--Robert Burns, William Blake, Walt Whitman, Emily Dickinson, Christina Rossetti, Alfred Tennyson, and Robert Browning. Proving that the Bible is just as powerful a source of inspiration today as it was in the past, the collection also assembles a mixed congregation of modern and contemporary poets, such as Dylan Thomas, Robert Frost, William Carlos Williams, Countee Cullen, e.e. cummings, William Butler Yeats, Laura (Riding) Jackson, A.D. Hope, Denise Levertov, and Philip Levine.
Of enduring interest to readers of both scripture and literature, this anthology illuminates key passages of the Old and New Testament. In selection after selection, readers will encounter an astonishing variety of religious experiences, as a host of poets from many eras and many backgrounds respond to Holy Scripture profoundly and imaginatively.
Of enduring interest to readers of both scripture and literature, this anthology illuminates key passages of the Old and New Testament. In selection after selection, readers will encounter an astonishing variety of religious experiences, as a host of poets from many eras and many backgrounds respond to Holy Scripture profoundly and imaginatively.
Reviews / Votes
"This volume is a useful reader to accompany primary formal texts in Biblical interpretation courses....The reader is introduced to little known authors whose interpretations of biblical texts are quite insightful."--Hal Warlick, High Point University"This is a rich collection that could be used effectively in literature and religion classes. Because it has the Bible as its focus, it may elicit more than passing interest from those who usually shy away from poetry."--Kliatt
"Occasionally there appears a religiously oriented work of such originality and obvious usefulness that one wonders why no one did it before. A stellar example is Chapters Into Verse."--Publishers Weekly
"Spiritually, stylistically and chronologically, the range is absolutely astonishing."--Parade Magazine
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 234 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 27 mm
Weight
769 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-513676-0 (9780195136760)
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Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Robert Atwan is the Series Editor of The Best American Essays and co-edits the successful Oxford textbook Popular Writing in America with Don McQuade.
Editor
Professor of EnglishProfessor of English, Seton Hall University, USA
InstructorInstructor, Dowling College, USA