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Poems Every Catholic Should Know

Poems Every Catholic Should Know

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$29.95
$29.95
$29.95 - $29.95
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Publisher: TAN Books
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Format: Imitation Leather
Pages: 336
Availability: In Stock
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Recognized by religious scholars and readers alike, Poems Every Catholic Should Know is an essential anthology for anyone desiring to explore the finest Christian verse of the second millennium. This uplifting collection brings together some of the most beloved works written by faithful followers of Christ.

From High Middle Ages figures like Hildegard of Bingen, Francis of Assisi, Dante and Chaucer to sixteenth-century missionaries like Teresa Of Ávila, John Of The Cross and John Donne, this compilation celebrates disparate authors writing throughout history. Additionally, it includes 19th-century mystics such as Dickenson and Hopkins as well as renowned converts like Newman and Chesterton. Each artist brings their unique perspective on Christianity to this formative anthology.

As part of a conscious effort to meet both the standards of academia and the needs of faithful readers, the selections in this book have been organized in chronological order – making it a literary time capsule that can serve both educational and inspirational purposes.

Brightening your horizon with its buoyant compositions and diverse interplay between old-world writers and modern minds alike, Poems Every Catholic Should Know is sure to delight! Whether for yourself or for others, this timeless treasure belongs in any library or home office seeking rejuvenation through religious expression.

Joseph Pearce:

Joseph Pearce is an English-born writer, and as of 2014 Director of the Center for Faith and Culture at Aquinas College in Nashville, Tennessee. He is known for a number of literary biographies, many of Catholic figures. Formerly aligned with the National Front, a white nationalist political party, he converted to Roman Catholicism in 1989, repudiated his earlier views, and now writes from a Catholic perspective. He is a co-editor of the St. Austin Review and editor-in-chief of Sapientia Press. He also teaches Shakespearian literature for Homeschool Connections, an online Catholic curriculum provider.

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J
John Cahill
"Poems Every Catholic Should Know": some of them are, some aren't. And a lot that are, are MIA

The book is beautifully and sturdily bound, as is now invariably the case with the new TAN Publishers.(The old TAN had some wonderful titles but so many of mine are now held together with elastic bands.)

The selection of poems belies its title. There are a good number of old familiar pieces from those one would expect: Chesterton, Belloc, Hopkins, Crashaw and others. He even included an old favourite of mine in Coventry Patmore's The Toys. Overly sentimental for some but it moves me every time. And there are a fair number of unexpected poets for an anthology denominated Catholic: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Tennyson and probably most of the English greats. Without doubt great poets but the Catholic relevance seems strained in many cases.

And, yes, this is almost entirely an English anthology. Unless I have missed someone (it's been known to happen) there are two Scottish poets in George MacDonald and Alexander Mongmerie, one Irish poet in Oscar Wilde, and two and a half American poets in Whittier, Longfellow and Theodore Maynard, the last of whom lived in both England and America. So something by Abraham Cowley but nothing by John Bannister Tabb, Leonard Feeney, or Jessica Powers. Joyce Kilmer's reputation hasn't survived into the 21st century but there was a time you couldn't leave grammar school without knowing “Trees” or “Prayer of a Soldier in France”. But he doesn't exist in this volume. A good part of American Catholicism wouldn't care, but if you're a southern Catholic Fr Abram Ryan is sorely missed.

And if anyone of Irish background were looking for poems of his Catholic heritage this is certainly not the place to look. No Joseph Mary Plunkett's “I See His Blood Upon The Rose”; no Padraic Pearse's “Christ's Coming”; No Padaic Colum; No James Clarence Mangan. None of the great Gaelic language poets even in translation.

And other than one by the collector himself, the anthology peters out rather quickly at the middle of the 20th centur...