Richard Wilbur, God, and Christianity
A recurring theme in the poetry of Richard Wilbur is one of God and Christianity. Biblical references can be found throughout his work, even in poems that have little to do with religion. However, this theme is quite prominent as there are several poems contain more than passing references. Wilbur provides in these poems ideas that Christians can identify with, either in the Christian lifestyle or straight from the Bible.
Richard Wilbur was raised by a Presbyterian father and an Episcopalian mother. Because his mother was closer to her own faith, they attended an Episcopal church. When Wilbur's parents opted to not go to church, a neighbor took him to a Baptist Sunday School.
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Peter then recalls how he denied Jesus three times before he "felt the rooster's crow flail" him (lines 12-13). All he could then do was "weep" (line 16). Not only is this an interesting poetic account of what is in the Gospels of the Bible, but it contains dilemmas that many Christians face - failure to be alert to Christ's call, selfish motives in serving Him, and denial of the faith. Christians can better identify with Peter through this poem.
"The Proof" is a poem that shows the mercy of God. It paints God as the Editor of life through proofreading terminology. Mankind is created by "utterance" (line 2). This is referring to the Genesis account of Creation in the Bible where God speaks and at His word, an "utterance," things come into being. But, Wilbur says, one sometimes will say things that cause God's "work to jar and stammer" (line 3). This is when a person says something that violates a commandment and upsets God. The speaker says, "I love him that he did not in a rage / Once and forever rule me off the page" (lines 5-6). He is grateful that God did not strike him down for his iniquity. Instead, God "crossed out delete and wrote in stet" (line 8). "Stet" is a proofreading term for "let it stand." God, in His mercy and love, leaves people to do in their free will what they wish, hoping they will make the right choice and "might please him yet" (line 7). Through this poem, Christians can recall how God
Stephen Prothero’s “God Is Not One” is a survey of world religions, comprising vital information on a vast array of different sets of belief. As someone who has never studied religion before, nor belongs to a particular faith, the variability within these religions is staggering. One might be satisfied to define religion as “how a person goes about believing in God,” but soon finds that even that definition has its holes. Thankfully, “God Is Not One” does an amazing job of cluing its reader into the nuances that are sometimes forgotten about the religions it approaches.
Malala Yousafzai, 18 year old Nobel Prize winner and women’s rights activist, once exclaimed: “I raise up my voice- not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard...we cannot succeed when half of us are held back”. The idea of speaking for those who cannot speak for themselves is extremely important when it comes to striving for change, so being able to express the needs of marginalized people is a great and awesome power. Yousafzai’s quote specifically connects to women’s rights, therefore it can be used to support the feminist movement seeing as she is advocating for the equality, in treatment and opportunity, of men and women. Feminist beliefs do not only apply to society, but to theology as well, seeing as the teachings of the bible are extremely influential in the day to day lives and values of religious people. The text that I chose to highlight this idea comes from Elizabeth A. Johnson’s book Quest for the Living God, chapter 5 ‘God Acting Womanish’ because it directly connects spirituality and feminism.
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two poets who are puritans. They are able to use writing and language to portray their ideas on G-d and religion. Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10th, 1666 by Bradstreet and Huswifery by Taylor are similar in the sense that G-d is always a part of their poems, whether it’s direct or through the use of complex writing. Through the use of language and metaphors, Bradstreet conveys that a connection with G-d could be strengthened through destruction while Taylor reveals that a connection can be reinforced through creation.
Yet only in Matthew does Peter have a role in the story. Upon seeing Jesus on the water, he calls out, "'Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water'"(Mt. 14.28). He almost succeeds, yet he suddenly gives in to fear and begins sinking. Jesus scolds him by saying, " 'You of little faith, why do you doubt?'"(14.31). This draws a strange picture of Peter. He no longer simply listens to Jesus, but tries to become actively involved in his teacher's lessons. This idea is again shown in Matthew 15.15. After the parable of the blind leading the blind, Peter asks, " "Explain this parable to us." Jesus replies with a rather impatient remark, but dives a little further into the meaning. He often comes to Jesus with questions throughout Matthew and these questions always ask for clear definitions of stories or truths about some spiritual detail. Many times Jesus snaps a little at him, but Peter obviously is not swayed by any impatience his teacher bestows. This seems to paint a closer relationship between the two men, where Peter is not afraid of Jesus and Jesus is not simply polite to Peter, as teachers tend to be. Jesus' obvious favoritism of Peter, shown in the transfiguration and throughout the gospel, leads one to believe that the two are indeed close friends with trust and mutual respect, which allows them to be freer with their words to one another. Friends tend to be less polite and more open with
Though there is no consensus on the beliefs of the author, there are strong references to Christianity. However, those references conflict with the clear pagan elements. In his article “The Anglo-Saxon Evangel,” Douglas Wilson argues for the Christian faith of the poet. He states that “our poet is no conflicted monk” (Wilson). He does not believe that the tug of war between the two belief systems is a flaw in the poem. The poet lived in a post-conversion time, but characters in the epic had yet to be converted. The article discusses what Wilson believes is the most likely reason for the contrasting religions, a way to reach both Christian and pagan people. Even so, the poet wove biblical references throughout the epic.
The author Richard Wilbur wrote the poem "The Beautiful Changes" in 1947. He relates changes in nature to those in a person. He was inspired by exploring botony and nature. I will explain to you why the author intentionally created the rhythm to go up and down with a grammatical structure making it difficult for the reader to grasp. According to The Norton Literature book the poem is a lyric verse form. The poem has a rhyme scheme of abcacdc which tells you that the second and the fifth lines of each stanza do not rhyme. Between are full and vowel ending in rhymes with the use of enjambment to help tighten and make it memorable. In this poem there is a mix of meter iambic feet which goes throughout most of the lines making it go up and down in a steady rhythm. The syntax makes it hard for the reader to get the right tempo. Although some may say that the poem "The Beautiful Changes" by Richard Wilbur is only about change and some may say it is all about enjoying life.
He predicted that Peter would deny him three times and he did. Three asked if Peter was a follower of Jesus and he replied with “I don’t know what you’re talking about”. Later he cried because he remembered what Jesus had told him. Even though he had forgotten Jesus and given up on him for a short day. Jesus took him back and forgave him.
Edward Taylor’s Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold are similar in their approach with the illustration of how beautiful and magnificent God’s creations are to humankind. However, each poem presents tragic misfortune, such as the death of his own children in Upon Wedlock, and Death of Children and the cold, enigmatic nature of human soul in Upon a Wasp Chilled with Cold. Taylor’s poems create an element of how cruel reality can be, as well as manifest an errant correlation between earthly life and spiritual salvation, which is how you react to the problems you face on earth determines the salvation that God has in store for you.
In the article “ On Being an Atheist,” H.J. McCloskey attempts to inform his readers that the belief in atheism is a “much more comfortable belief” by effectively using a disdainful rhetoric towards theists and their faith. McCloskey delves into both the Cosmological and Teleological arguments, which within he criticizes the arguments and to further his argument against theism, he also presents the Problem of Evil and why evil cannot possibly exist with a perfect God being the creator of universe. What will be displayed in this essay are the counter-arguments to McCloskey’s criticisms and the attempt to discredit his claims that regard the “comfortable” position that lies within atheism and its arguments.
For my book review I chose The Reason for God by Timothy Keller. I have read this book before, but I wanted to go through again, summarize and analyze it. The purpose of this paper will be to summarize The Reason for God and analyze it’s writing style and arguments. The Reason for God defends knowledge of God and is naturally an apologetic work. Interestingly enough though, it reads more like a pastoral than it does an apologetic work.
On order to effectively analyze “The Writer,” one might look to the Advanced Placement format, for instance, to best understand the meaning of Wilbur’s poem.
Dickinson’s poem 1545 contains multiple meanings and interpretations. It is a criticism of Christianity, however, she criticizes in a rather witty way. Throughout this piece of literature, she uses words that have many meanings to dig at the bible and people’s narrow-minded beliefs within the sacred text. Dickenson also uses repetition to draw attention to certain words. Perhaps the ultimate gibe is that she takes seemingly long, complicated, and popular biblical stories and shortens them to four words or less. By doing this she gives off the impression that the “faded men” who wrote the bible are not as clever as they think; but rather they’re stories are simple and transparent.
During the movie, Jesus foreshadows what will soon happen when he tells Peter that he will deny Jesus 3 times before the cock crows. Peter is doubtful and tells Jesus that he will not do such a thing. Later he does betray Jesus 3 times when he denies knowing Jesus to save himself. However, Peter does not realize that he has fulfilled what Jesus had said would happen until Mary Magdalene talks to him. During the movie, “Jesus Christ Superstar”, Peter denies knowing Jesus in order to save himself.
that if one asserts something then one must deny something. He then goes on by
John Milton’s Paradise Lost is, perhaps, one of the greatest works of poetry in the Anglophonic literary canon. One of the reasons that the epic poem is so great is Milton’s uncompromisingly energetic approach in dealing with ideas and images. Milton writes about ideas and images by contrasting them with their opposites; showing Heaven through Hell, the sacrosanct through the somatic, and the obedient through the belligerent. This magnetic style allows the reader to attain a deeper level of understanding about the theological and philosophical claims that Milton makes by offering a counterpoint to each argument. In Paradise Lost, Milton creates an electric tension between different images and ideas, showing the reader each as it relates