Instead, I’ll let Dana Gioia argue for me. Gioia, a poet and critic, and former head of the National Endowment for the Arts, has written a very useful article entitled, “Poetry as Enchantment,” in the summer, 2015, issue of Dark Horse magazine. The idea that poetry can “enchant” seems directly aimed at our secular age, the way evolutionary and naturalistic thinking has “disenchanted” the world, in the words of Charles Taylor. Poetry can help us to bring some wonder back to life.

In his article Gioia explains that one of the important uses of poetry is to give human beings “the words to get through life.”

Isn’t that an appealing notion? The idea that poetry can help us to make it through the day, and not only make it through, but understand, enjoy, delight in, and make sense of what’s going on around us every day? Gioia continues, “The aim of poetry...is to awaken us to a fuller sense of our own humanity in both its social and individual aspects.” I agree. And I also agree when Gioia writes, “Poetry proffers some mysteries that lie beyond paraphrase.” That is, poetry presents things in ways that mere narrative can never capture, so that we actually experience an object, a situation, or a possibility in ways words alone can’t describe.

I suppose this explains why almost half the Bible is written in poetry? Like Psalm 19?

A poet for everyday

I was once asked by a friend who expressed an interest in reading more poetry where he should begin. I didn’t hesitate to answer: Gerard Manley Hopkins. Hopkins has been described as the greatest of the minor English poets. And, while he may be a second-tier versifier, few in the English canon surpass him when it comes to bringing out the common grace of God in everyday objects and situations.

As a boy, Hopkins wandered the English countryside observing everything, making notes and drawing pictures in a variety of notebooks. Those experiences would come to fruition in some of the loveliest and most delightful – common grace-full – poetry in the English language.

Hopkins’ verse is distinguished by its vividness, simplicity, and joyous creativity. Hyphenated words, strange but apt accent marks, alliteration and apostrophe sparkle throughout his works, creating a poetry full of life and imagination, and richly reflecting of the common grace of God.

Here is Hopkins’ poem, “Pied Beauty”:

Glory be to God for dappled things –
  For skies of couple-colour as a brinded cow;
    For rose-moles in all stipple upon trout that swim;
Fresh-firecoal chestnut-falls; finches’ wings;
  Landscape plotted and pieced – fold, fallow, and plough;
    And all trades, their gear and tackle and trim.

All things counter, spare, strange;
  Whatever is fickle, freckled (who knows how?)
    With swift, slow; sweet, sour; adazzle, dim;
He fathers-forth whose beauty is past change:
                                     Praise Him.

In this poem Hopkins celebrates all the everyday, ordinary ways God brings beauty to light in our sad world. The patterns of creation – finches and fish – and culture – the “gear” of men’s work and their cultivated fields – all bear witness to Him “whose beauty is past change” and speak of the relentless goodness of the Lord. As he reflects on these everyday objects and situation, Hopkins is led to glorify God, and he calls on us, his readers, to join him in his praise.

Poetry like this can teach us to look, wonder, see, and rejoice in all the many and varied ways the common grace of God works to bless, sustain, and delight us every day. By reading and contemplating the poems of Hopkins and others, we can become more alert to and in tune with a world that everywhere declares the glory of God, and join our voices with it to bring praise to Him Who loves His creatures unfailingly.

Next steps

Make a list of things that fit the descriptions Hopkins summarizes in his poem. For example, “couple-colour” things, that is, as we might say, “two-toned” objects, like saddle shoes or a new skirt. List as many as you can in all the categories suggested by this poem. Then praise God for them all!

Additional Resources

Download this week’s study, Common Grace.

Sign up for ViewPoint Leaders Training and start your own ViewPoint discussion group.

For a deeper study of God’s grace, order a copy of T. M.’s book,I Will Be Your God, from our online store.

Men, download our free brief paper, “Men of the Church: A Solemn Warning,” by clicking here.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.