Poetry and Prayer

Francesca Bugliani Knox is a Research Associate at Heythrop College and Teaching Fellow at University College London. Her publications include translations into Italian as well as several books and articles on various aspects of English and Italian literature from the Renaissance to the present, including The Eye of the Eagle: John Donne and the Legacy of Ignatius Loyola (2011). She was the editor, with David Lonsdale, of Poetry and the Religious Imagination (2015). At present she is putting together a collection of essays by various authors on Monsignor Ronald Knox for the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies. John Took is Professor of Dante Studies at University College London. His publications include a study of Dante's aesthetics, including his literary aesthetic, an introduction to the minor works, an account of Dante's phenomenology of existence, and a critical edition with a commentary and translation of the Fiore, a version of the Roman de la rose attributed by some scholars to Dante. Recently published too is a volume on aspects of Dante's theology entitled Conversations with Kenelm (Kenelm Foster, O.P., having been among the most significant of British Dante scholars of the second half of the twentieth century), as well as a revised version of a MS left by the late Professor Christopher Ryan of Cambridge on Dante and Aquinas. His main project at present, however, is a fresh synthesis of Dante's life and work provisionally entitled simply Dante.

’A really valuable collection, attending to both familiar and unfamiliar voices with scholarship, discernment and - not least important - a good ear.’ Rowan Williams, Master of Magdalene College, University of Cambridge, UK ’Christians commonly use poetry in their worship, for such are the psalms. But is this dual identity just an accident, or is there more to it? Some writers in the twentieth century have suggested as much, among them Henri Bremond, Karl Rahner, Nathan Scott and Evelyn Underhill. The first part of this book offers a fascinating exploration of the plausibility and limitations of such claims, particularly potential overlaps with mysticism and contemplative prayer. In the main the conclusion reached is that parallels run deeper than might initially have been expected, and this seems confirmed by the sensitive and perceptive exploration later in the book of comments from some Christian poets of more recent times, among them W.H. Auden, Denise Levertov and R.S. Thomas. The editors are to be congratulated on a volume that not only fills an obvious gap in the dialogue between theology and literature, but also makes the question stimulating and rewarding.’ David Brown, University of St Andrews, UK ’Striving for what lies beyond language, poem and prayer make their discovery in praise, lament, and petition. Reach always exceeds the grasp. No divine Presence at hand? It may be enough merely to reach toward it - again and again. The essays in this collection show us how it is done.’ Peter S. Hawkins, Yale Divinity School, USA

• Preface; Introduction, Francesca Bugliani Knox. Part I Theoretical Perspectives: Poetry and prayer: a survey of some 20th-century studies, David Lonsdale; ‘Prayer is the little implement’: poetic speech and the gestures of prayer in Christian traditions, Mark S. Burrows; Poetry at the threshold of prayer, Antonio Spadaro SJ; Poetry as immanence: how language informs reality, Jay Parini; Poetry and prayer: ‘an inner kinship’, Jennifer Reek. Part II Case Studies: Pre-Modernity: Poetic art and prayer in Psalm 145, David Rensberger; Prayer and prayerfulness in Dante, John Took; Prayer, poetry and silence: a musical correspondence, Małgorzata Grzegorzewska. Part III Case Studies: The Twentieth Century: Re-imagining prayer: coming out of hiding? R.S. Thomas and Tadeusz Różewicz, Jean Ward; Saturday prayer: R.S. Thomas and the search for a silent God, Richard McLauchlan; Thomas Merton’s poetry and prayer, Sarah Law; W.H. Auden and the deep language of poetic prayer, Hester Jones; Denise Levertov: poetry as a way to prayer, Dana Greene.