isa-normaladvance-1909-00070

Description:	70THE NORMAL ADVANCEThe Relation of Poetry and ReligionB. H. BRUNER, 12Poetry is the very soul of religion. EdwinMarkham says, Religion is Poetry gone toseed. Poetry floating above life is merelypoetry poetry embodied in life is religion.Visions when wrapped in the glowing colorsof imagination are poetry but when realizedand expressed in a good life, are religion. Poetry, when we look up and behold it in thebeauty of the clouds is just simply poetry, butwhen we see it descending upon the earth in refreshing showers of rain, it is religion.From the beginning of time poetry and religion have been inseparable. The first poetryof the world was a cry of the religious passionsof man. It was a cry from the heart of man tothe mystery from whence he sprang, to themystery to which he was soon to return. Poetry sprang into existence, but from the meditation of some minds upon the cold, sordid thingsof this world, but from the meditations liponsome God. The pages of the ancient ZendAvesta are covered with poetry which tries tohelp the heart in its long struggle with the evilGod. On the pages of the old Testament, theHebrew poets, with the vision of their Godalways before them, gave to the world a noblepoetry in Psalm and Prophecy, which has supported the worn steps and weary spirits ofmankind through thousands of years. In allages and all lands the great teachers of righteousness have been men who were endowedwith a poetic vision, and their work remainstoday as fresh as the air we breathe. Theologyin its origin has descended to us in a song,and the beginnings of revealed religion cameas a dream of God clothed in poetic beauty.It would be impossible for the child tocomprehend his fathers thought were he notblest with a vision of his fathers face.Poe says, The origin of poetry lies in athirst for a wilder beauty than earth supplies.These words are deep, yet they are, in a sense,satisfying, for earth gives us only an image ofthe perfect beauty we long so much to see. Artis beyond the reach of most of us. It is our common lot to see in nature and life only typeswherein we see the obscure features of the arch-types of the eternal world. It is as Markhamsays, The forms which we see in this world areonly shadows of the higher realities. Paultells us, That we now see through a glassdarkly. It is left for the poet to push asidethe glass and peer forward with the eye ofimagination into the world of mysteries. Mostpeople are like men shut up in some cave,where, through the thin crevices, they can onlyget a confused image of the vast star-filledheavens above and around them, but with thepoet it is different. In a moment of glowingemotion and imagination the rocks seem torend for him and he looks out beyond into therealms of mystery and wonder, and it is leftfor him to interpret them to us.It has been said, and I think very truly,that imagination is the crowning power ofthe poet. In the poetry of the Bible, wecall it inspiration. The poets of the Bible,filled with the mighty spirit of God, Flamedup in the passion of righteournsss, till theirimagination burned to vision rnd prophecy.It is the business of the poet to take the thingsof this world, and by listening to the hints andwhisperings of nature and life to remouldthem, and cause them to look more beautiful.There is nothing but the imagination that canadequately cope with the higher reality of ourlife, and with this wonderful gift the poetcan take the most insignificant things of thisworld and draw from them deep spirituallessons.The prophet Isaiah said, Verily thou art aGod that hidest Thyself. Christ teaches us inHis interview with the woman at the well thatGod is Spirit. Not a spirit, His personality
Source:	http://indstate.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/isuarchive/id/34100
Collection:	Indiana State University Archives

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