Category Archives: Literature and Poetry
Literature and Poetry
Works of poetry and literature, works on poetry and literature — whether they be classical, medieval, Renaissance, baroque, etc. — If they are on this site, they are in this section.
The word “literature” is taken from the Latin word littera, which means “letters,” not as in the alphabet, but as in the words that letters spell. Latin also has the word verbum, which means “word,” not as in the material definition: the four-letter monosyllable, w-o-r-d, but as in the formal definition, what the term means. Verbum, in its formal sense, can be translated as “idea.” When you predicate one idea or concept of another, you have a proposition, or judgment. When man reasons, he is always linking propositions in order to arrive at conclusions. That’s logic, not literature.
Literature is written composition. It is the telling of a story on paper. The story can be either fiction or non-fiction, a novel, history, or drama. Bad writing can never qualify as literature, no matter how moving the story line. Good writing can never qualify as literature if there is no story in the writing, no development of a theme, no touching of the soul, just facts. Scientific writing is not literature, but science fiction certainly can be. Historical composition is not literature, but when the author brings adventure and great events to life, as in an inspiring biography, or a saga, that certainly can be classified as literature — that is, if the writing flows in style and grace.
It is hard to define the word literature. We all know what a well written book is, or a well written article, or essay, but we often differ when it comes to explaining what exactly it is that makes a book “a good read.”
Poetry, on the other hand, is easier to define. There must be meter and rhythm in the composition, and the composition must be divided into lines, verses, and stanzas. Poems do not necessary have to have rhyming verses, but usually they do. Epic poems, on the other hand, all have meter and rhythm, but not all have rhyming verses. A poem is a painting in words. Poesis, the Greek word for poetry, means “something made.” So, in the Greek tradition, poets did not just tell a beautiful story, they built it with the symmetry and harmony of meter and rhythm.
How to Write a Book
Fifty-four years ago three sisters called Mary, Pauline, and Teresa spent an hour of joy in each other’s company. The youngest sister, Teresa, told tales of her childhood with such charm that the other two were captivated.
Is Evil a Problem?
On the Sunday after Easter readers of the Washington Post were shocked and saddened by a story on the paper’s front page. It concerned a family who lived in Middletown in the Maryland countryside about 50 miles outside D.C. The 34-year-old father of the family had killed his wife, their three young children and then himself. The bodies had been discovered on Saturday by the … More →
How Not to Write a Book
“I have a nausea,” said Sancho Panza, “and I believe I must write a book.” “I can think of no nausea so potent as to fit thee to write a book,” said Don Quixote, “and, since thou art my squire, I bid thee to rein in thine ass, and ride behind the heels of my steed, as a squire should.”
Common Moth
Born out of dust, of dust’s consistency, You start, from the immensity of night, A wisp of fluttering transparency, Glorious with willingness, this final flight.
Two Poems of Brother Francis
Protesting The Unitarian Dr. Lee Is pleased he does not disagree With God on points, — perhaps two or three.
A Mother and Her Child
(Editor’s Introduction: Not much needs to be said to introduce this piece. We are satisfied merely to say that it was an address Fr. Feeney gave in 1942 on the very popular “Catholic Hour,” Bishop Fulton Sheen’s Sunday night radio program aired on NBC Radio.
Posted in Apologetics, Articles, Literature and Poetry, Our Lady 1 Comment
Catherine Tekakwitha
The sweet-briar rose of summer glades We lay upon another shrine ; [1] The lily of the Mohawk woods, O dusky maiden! shall be thine.
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The Four and Forty Rivers
The four and forty rivers are rallied at the heights, In the melting of the days, in the dripping of the nights, In the condensation of clouds:
The Poet’s Eye: Gerard Manley Hopkins’ “Margaret Clitheroe”
Of all the books I have read on the lives of saints and holy personages, none has ever moved or inspired me as did Dr. Malcolm Brennan’s Martyrs of the English Reformation. Perhaps it was because, beside such luminaries as Sts. Edmund Campion, John Fisher and Thomas More, Brennan related the stories of men and women like St. Nicholas Owen and St. Margaret Ward.
Saint Catherine of Alexandria
The groaning of the peddler’s cart Is droning slowly through the mart of Alexandria.
The World Upside Down
In this our world of great renown, So many things are upside down. Pious divines preach evolution And kings join the revolution.
Who is Next?
It need not be the one, expecting to depart, The one with the ailing lungs or failing heart.
The Little Flower
Knowing that it would burn she courted fire; And who shall wish to chide her heart’s desire?
Hymn of the Angelus by Edgar Allan Poe
At morn, at noon, at twilight dim, Maria, thou hast heard my hymn!
Citizen of the World
No longer of Him be it said “He hath no place to lay His head.”
