The similar phrase 'Worldly Christianity' is one used by Bonhoeffer. It's J Gresham Machen that I want to line up most closely with. See his Christianity and culture here. Having done commentaries on Proverbs (Heavenly Wisdom) and Song of Songs (Heavenly Love), a matching title for Ecclesiastes would be Heavenly Worldliness. For my stance on worldliness, see 3 posts here.

Short Poem 11


I first discovered the poetry of Emily Dickinson doing an American Studies course at University.
Though virtually unknown in her lifetime, she has come to be regarded, along with Walt Whitman (not my cup of tea at all), as one of the two quintessential American poets of the 19th Century. Although she wrote around 1,789 poems, only a handful of them were published during her lifetime, all anonymously. Some may have been published without her knowledge. She wrote short poems with lots of dashes that pack a punch. This is one of the best known. More here.

Because I could not stop for Death -
He kindly stopped for me -
The Carriage held but just Ourselves -
And Immortality.
We slowly drove - He knew no haste
And I had put away
My labor and my leisure too,
For His Civility -
We passed the School, where Children strove
At Recess - in the Ring -
We passed the Fields of Gazing Grain -
We passed the Setting Sun -
Or rather - He passed Us -
The Dews drew quivering and chill -
For only Gossamer, my Gown -
My Tippet - only Tulle -
We paused before a House that seemed
A Swelling of the Ground -
The Roof was scarcely visible -
The Cornice - in the Ground -
Since then -'tis Centuries -and yet
Feels shorter than the Day
I first surmised the Horses' Heads
Were toward Eternity -

2 comments:

Alan said...

In the choir I used to sing with we did Delius' "Sea Drift" from Walt Whitman's poem. What baffling stuff! And how awkward to sing! Here are some of my favourite lines (not!):

O throat! O trembling throat!
Sound clearer through the atmosphere!
Pierce the woods, the earth,
Somewhere listening to catch you must be the one I want.
(Delius pitched this very high, too...)

and the unforgettable ending of the poem...

The wake of the sea-ship after she passes, flashing and frolicsome
under the sun,
A motley procession with many a fleck of foam and many fragments,
Following the stately and rapid ship, in the wake following.


yuk.

Gary Brady said...

Agreed on that then.