Invisible Light: Poems about God

By D. Culbertson

Book Overview

For the first time God is the subject of a poetry anthology in English. Among the classic poets represented in this collection are Donne, Herbert, Milton, Blake, Emerson, E. B. Browning, Tennyson, Dickinson, and Hopkins; among the twentieth-century poets, Thomas Hardy, D. H. Lawrence, Countee Cullen, Jessica Powers, John Berryman, Robert Lowell, Denise Levertov, Anne Sexton, Alicia Ostriker, and Kathleen Norris. From the chorus of these many poetic voices come stunning words, images, and insights--from Paul Murray's depiction of "that needle's eye / through which all the threads / of the universe are drawn" to Gwendolyn Brooks's touching rumination on God as someone lonely, who "tires of being great / in solitude. Without a hand to hold."

Invisible Light is divided into three sections: "From God" (in God's voice, in the first person), "To God" (generally prayers, addressed to God, in the second person), and "About God" (in the third person).

Witty, passionate, melancholic, sanguine, and ecstatic, the poems approach their single subject from the most diverse attitudes and perspectives. "The doubters, believers, lovers and philosophers, the anguished and flippant, submissive and prayerful, speak for us and about us," Diana Culbertson writes. "Through their words, we may possibly see God anew."

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0231120621
• ISBN13: 9780231120623
• Release Date: November 2000
• Publisher: Columbia University Press
• Length: 200 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 5.3" x 9.3"
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Interesting and Diverse Poetry

This anthology of poetry about God, edited by Diana Culbertson, is a fascinating overview of the thoughts of poets regarding God. The editor divided the book in three parts: FROM GOD(in the first person), TO GOD(in the second person),ABOUT GOD (in the third person). As a result of this we find different works not arranged in cronological order but according to their perspective regarding God. However, on each of the three parts of the book poems begin cronologically, beginning with poems from the Bible. The variety of language, style and ideas of this anthology is pretty diverse. The reader can experience and discover the power of poetry beginning with the psalms and passing through John Donne, John Milton, Thomas Hardy, Emily Dickinson, Gerald Manley Hopkins and also contemporary writers like Kathleen Norris and Daniel Berrigan. It is good for the editor to wait until the final part of the book to give short biographies of the authors. I think this helps the reader to experience the poems by themselves without any preconceived ideas about the authors. There are also helpful footnotes on some poems in order to understand the message implied by the author. This anthology brings into perspective the different theological ideas that has formed the concept of God in Judaism, Christianity and Islam and how poets express these ideas in their own personal way. Highly recommended.

I love poetry again!

This book was given to me as a gift. What a great gift! It is a book of poems about God. I loved the book because the poems and authors of the poems are so diverse. For instance, while I expected an author such as Emily Bronte, I was quite surprised to find Jack Kerouac included. The book is grouped into three sections. My favorite section was the last because the poems are less traditional sounding. The poems are "real." There's nothing phony or falsely devout about them.