William Baldwin

William Baldwin (c.1515—c.1563) is a poet from southwest England who worked at Edward Whitchurch's Printing House in London — the house that published the first complete edition of the Bible in English.

Little is known about Baldwin's life, although it is believed that he graduated from Oxford University in 1533. He was well known as a writer, translator and editor — having published numerous books, including many religious works. He was a supporter of the Protestant Reformation, and outspoken in his opposition to the Roman Catholic Church.

In 1555 Baldwin completed A Mirror For Magistrates, which included four of his own poems, but it could not be published during Queen Mary's reign.

Christ To His Spouse

Lo , thou, my love, art fair;
Myself hath made thee so:
Yea, thou art fair indeed,
Wherefore thou shalt not need
In beauty to despair;
For I accept thee so,
--------------For fair.

For fair, because thine eyes
Are like the culvers' white,
Whose simpleness in deed
All others do exceed:
Thy judgement wholly lies
In true sense of sprite
--------------Most wise.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Gerard Manley Hopkins*

Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844—1889) is one of the most significant poets of the nineteenth century. As a Jesuit priest, he felt a conflict between the humility and turning away of attention from himself that was expected of him, and the need to provide an audience for his art. In 1884 he became professor of Greek and Latin at University College, Dublin.

He developed in his poetry what he called sprung rhythm, which was intended to imitate the rhythm of natural speech, where the first syllable is stressed and is followed by several unstressed syllables. The number of unstressed syllables varies, but the number of stressed syllables remains constant. The stress marks in his poems are intended to help readers to follow the rhythm.

Hopkins once referred to the poem "The Windhover" as the best thing he'd ever written.

The Windhover

To Christ our Lord

I caught this morning morning's minion, king—
---dom of daylight's dauphin, dapple-dawn-drawn Falcon, in his
------riding
---Of the rolling level underneath him steady air, and striding
High there, how he rung upon the rein of a wimpling wing
In his ecstasy! then off, off forth on swing,
---As a skate's heel sweeps smooth on a bow-bend: the hurl and
------gliding
---Rebuffed the big wind. My heart in hiding
Stirred for a bird, — the achieve of, the mastery of the thing!

Brute beauty and valour and act, oh, air, pride, plume, here
---Buckle! AND the fire that breaks from thee then, a billion
Times told lovelier, more dangerous, O my chevalier!

---No wonder of it: shèer plòd makes plough down sillion
Shine, and blue-bleak embers, ah my dear,
---Fall, gall themselves, and gash gold vermilion.

Pied Beauty

Glory be to God for dappled things —
---For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
------For rose-moles all in stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches' wings;
---Landscape plotted and pieced — fold, fallow, and plough;
------And áll trádes, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, original, spare, strange;
---Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
------With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
---------------------------Praise him.

*This is the second Kingdom Poets post about Gerard Manley Hopkins: first postthird post

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

Dave Harrity

Dave Harrity is a Kentucky poet, and an Assistant Professor of English at Campbellsville University. He is the founder of Antler — a community-building and spiritual-formation organization designed to encourage the integration of creativity in devotional practice. Visit Antler here. The heart of Antler can be seen in Harrity's book, Making Manifest: On Faith, Creativity, and the Kingdom at Hand, which consists of meditations and writing exercises.

My friendship with Dave Harrity began many years ago at the Festival of Faith & Writing in Grand Rapids, Michigan. It's been good to witness his development as a writer and speaker. His poetry chapbook, Morning & What Has Come Since, was released by Finishing Line Press in 2007, and was nominated for several awards. At that time Nicholas Samaras declared, "...we welcome the arrival of David Harrity whose observations are acute, [and] whose turns of phrase are artful, arresting and original..."

I am so pleased to have been able to assist him as editor for his first full-length poetry collection, These Intricacies, which has just appeared as part of the Poiema Poetry Series from Cascade Books. The following is from These Intricacies.

from Novena (6)

Let me know the distance
from your ghost to my bones.

Let these knees singe the ground
under coal-brushed clouds.

Let my voice grow into prayer
with my face against the soil.

Let the seed begin the tree,
the taproot kiss through stone.

Let hands grow to branches,
divide and rise to green.

Let fingers flower into leaves
and wander to the sky.

Let churning be an icon,
the beginning to your reach.

Let rain create the heat,
and batter every leaf.

Let lines of lightning chalk the sky,
fierce flare to flash and rush.

Let my pieces smolder
in the absence of your touch.

Posted with permission of the poet.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.

The Pearl Poet

The Pearl Poet is the name used to refer to the author of the 14th century Middle English poem, which survives only in a single manuscript. The same manuscript also includes the romance "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight", and two Christian narrative poems: "Patience" and "Cleanliness". All four poems are believed to be the work of a single author.

In "Pearl" (spelled "Perle" in the original), a father mourns the death of his young daughter, and dreams he encounters her as a grown woman in heaven, although he is still earthbound. She answers his questions with doctrinal teaching, and shows him the heavenly city. The 101 12-line stanzas are very alliterative.

The following is from J.R.R. Tolkien's translation of "Pearl".

from Pearl (88)

Of sun nor moon they had no need,
For God Himself was their sunlight;
The Lamb their lantern was indeed
And through Him blazed that city bright
That unearthly clear did no light impede;
Through wall and hall thus passed my sight.
The Throne on high there might one heed,
With all its rich adornment dight,
As John in chosen words did write.
High God Himself sat on that throne,
Whence forth a river ran with light
Outshining both the sun and moon.

Entry written by D.S. Martin. His latest poetry collection, Conspiracy of Light: Poems Inspired by the Legacy of C.S. Lewis, is available from Wipf & Stock as is his earlier award-winning collection, Poiema.