April 2013: Poet #1 – George Herbert
Justification: After “Redemption”
Despair: After “Deniall”
Obsession: After “Affliction (IV)”
He that made the ear: After “Longing”
Essay: The Broken Altar
May 2013: Poet #2 – William Cowper
Power Perfected in Weakness: After “Light Shining Out of Darkness”
Buried Above Ground: After “Sapphics”
Solitude and Grace: After “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk”
A Fable: After “The Poet, the Oyster and the Sensitive Plant”
Essay: The Waiting Soul
June 2013: Poet #3 – Ann Griffiths
The Bright-Shining Lord: After “I Saw Him Standing”
Song of the Pierced Veil: After “Hymn for the Mercy Seat”
Ripped in two by self, desire: After “Since I am corruptly fallen”
In His field, amidst the flowers: After “His left hand, in heat of noonday”
Essay: The Beloved on the Sacred Mountain
July 2013: Poet #4 – Christina Rossetti
The Road: After “Uphill”
Joy in Each Season: After “The One Certainty”
Expectancy: After “The Thread of Life”
Alive: After “Sleeping At Last”
Essay: Love Lies Bleeding
August 2013: Poet #5 – George MacDonald
The Fledgling: After “Diary of an Old Soul”
Fragments of a Prayer: After “A Broken Prayer”
Sowing: After “Better Things”
Run Run Ever: After “No End of No-Story”
Essay: George MacDonald and the Regenerated Imagination
September 2013: Poet #6 – Marianne Moore
At the First Dawn of Brightness: After “In the Days of Prismatic Colour”
Of the People: After “In Distrust of Merits”
Instinct: After “Melanchthon”
Numbering Days: After “What are Years?”
Essay: The Poet Who Disliked Poetry
October 2013: Poet #7 – W.H. Auden
Like Love: After “Law, say the gardeners, is the sun”
The Lesson: After “But I Can’t”
Indecisive Spring: After “Under Sirius”
Audenesques: An Auden Collage
Essay: Undoing the Folded Lie
November 2013: Poet #8 – Denise Levertov
Voices in the Garden: After “On a Theme by Thomas Merton”
Being: After “Flickering Mind”
Even So, Even So: After “Suspended”
Guilt: After “Adam’s Complaint”
December 2013: Poet #9 – Luci Shaw
Uncertainty: After “The Annunciatory Angel”
“She pondered all these things in her heart”: After “Mary Considers Her Situation”
Ascend, Descend: After “Made Flesh”
Earth’s Carol: After “Some Christmas Stars”
January 2014: Poet #10 – Peter Steele
Epiphany: After “Madonna and Child”
Childhood: After “Star Man”
What He Meant: After “Crux”
Morning Song: After “An Ordinary Evening in Kew”
Essay: The Priest Who Chuckled In Poetry
February 2014: Poet #11 – Les Murray
Passacaglia in G Minor: After “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow”
First Things Last: After “Incorrigible Grace”
Schoolyard Grace: After “Equanimity”
Sprawl
March 2014: Poet #12 – Rowan Williams
Now I Tell You: After “Great Sabbath”
Concerto No.4: After “Bach for the Cello”
Morning Heart: After “First Thing”
Søren: After “Rublev”
The 12 Poets Project
The 12 Poets Project was a writing project begun in April 2013 and completed in March 2014. The project involved me reading, studying and responding to 12 Christian poets from over the ages, selecting 4 of their poems to respond to in my own poetry.
All poems can be viewed on this blog. Highlights from the whole project can be downloaded as a PDF here.
April 2013: Poet #1 – George Herbert
Justification: After “Redemption”
Despair: After “Deniall”
Obsession: After “Affliction (IV)”
He that made the ear: After “Longing”
Essay: The Broken Altar
May 2013: Poet #2 – William Cowper
Power Perfected in Weakness: After “Light Shining Out of Darkness”
Buried Above Ground: After “Sapphics”
Solitude and Grace: After “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk”
A Fable: After “The Poet, the Oyster and the Sensitive Plant”
Essay: The Waiting Soul
June 2013: Poet #3 – Ann Griffiths
The Bright-Shining Lord: After “I Saw Him Standing”
Song of the Pierced Veil: After “Hymn for the Mercy Seat”
Ripped in two by self, desire: After “Since I am corruptly fallen”
In His field, amidst the flowers: After “His left hand, in heat of noonday”
Essay: The Beloved on the Sacred Mountain
July 2013: Poet #4 – Christina Rossetti
The Road: After “Uphill”
Joy in Each Season: After “The One Certainty”
Expectancy: After “The Thread of Life”
Alive: After “Sleeping At Last”
Essay: Love Lies Bleeding
August 2013: Poet #5 – George MacDonald
The Fledgling: After “Diary of an Old Soul”
Fragments of a Prayer: After “A Broken Prayer”
Sowing: After “Better Things”
Run Run Ever: After “No End of No-Story”
Essay: George MacDonald and the Regenerated Imagination
September 2013: Poet #6 – Marianne Moore
At the First Dawn of Brightness: After “In the Days of Prismatic Colour”
Of the People: After “In Distrust of Merits”
Instinct: After “Melanchthon”
Numbering Days: After “What are Years?”
Essay: The Poet Who Disliked Poetry
October 2013: Poet #7 – W.H. Auden
Like Love: After “Law, say the gardeners, is the sun”
The Lesson: After “But I Can’t”
Indecisive Spring: After “Under Sirius”
Audenesques: An Auden Collage
Essay: Undoing the Folded Lie
November 2013: Poet #8 – Denise Levertov
Voices in the Garden: After “On a Theme by Thomas Merton”
Being: After “Flickering Mind”
Even So, Even So: After “Suspended”
Guilt: After “Adam’s Complaint”
December 2013: Poet #9 – Luci Shaw
Uncertainty: After “The Annunciatory Angel”
“She pondered all these things in her heart”: After “Mary Considers Her Situation”
Ascend, Descend: After “Made Flesh”
Earth’s Carol: After “Some Christmas Stars”
January 2014: Poet #10 – Peter Steele
Epiphany: After “Madonna and Child”
Childhood: After “Star Man”
What He Meant: After “Crux”
Morning Song: After “An Ordinary Evening in Kew”
Essay: The Priest Who Chuckled In Poetry
February 2014: Poet #11 – Les Murray
Passacaglia in G Minor: After “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow”
First Things Last: After “Incorrigible Grace”
Schoolyard Grace: After “Equanimity”
Sprawl
March 2014: Poet #12 – Rowan Williams
Now I Tell You: After “Great Sabbath”
Concerto No.4: After “Bach for the Cello”
Morning Heart: After “First Thing”
Søren: After “Rublev”
April 2013: Poet #1 – George Herbert
Justification: After “Redemption”
Despair: After “Deniall”
Obsession: After “Affliction (IV)”
He that made the ear: After “Longing”
Essay: The Broken Altar
May 2013: Poet #2 – William Cowper
Power Perfected in Weakness: After “Light Shining Out of Darkness”
Buried Above Ground: After “Sapphics”
Solitude and Grace: After “The Solitude of Alexander Selkirk”
A Fable: After “The Poet, the Oyster and the Sensitive Plant”
Essay: The Waiting Soul
June 2013: Poet #3 – Ann Griffiths
The Bright-Shining Lord: After “I Saw Him Standing”
Song of the Pierced Veil: After “Hymn for the Mercy Seat”
Ripped in two by self, desire: After “Since I am corruptly fallen”
In His field, amidst the flowers: After “His left hand, in heat of noonday”
Essay: The Beloved on the Sacred Mountain
July 2013: Poet #4 – Christina Rossetti
The Road: After “Uphill”
Joy in Each Season: After “The One Certainty”
Expectancy: After “The Thread of Life”
Alive: After “Sleeping At Last”
Essay: Love Lies Bleeding
August 2013: Poet #5 – George MacDonald
The Fledgling: After “Diary of an Old Soul”
Fragments of a Prayer: After “A Broken Prayer”
Sowing: After “Better Things”
Run Run Ever: After “No End of No-Story”
Essay: George MacDonald and the Regenerated Imagination
September 2013: Poet #6 – Marianne Moore
At the First Dawn of Brightness: After “In the Days of Prismatic Colour”
Of the People: After “In Distrust of Merits”
Instinct: After “Melanchthon”
Numbering Days: After “What are Years?”
Essay: The Poet Who Disliked Poetry
October 2013: Poet #7 – W.H. Auden
Like Love: After “Law, say the gardeners, is the sun”
The Lesson: After “But I Can’t”
Indecisive Spring: After “Under Sirius”
Audenesques: An Auden Collage
Essay: Undoing the Folded Lie
November 2013: Poet #8 – Denise Levertov
Voices in the Garden: After “On a Theme by Thomas Merton”
Being: After “Flickering Mind”
Even So, Even So: After “Suspended”
Guilt: After “Adam’s Complaint”
December 2013: Poet #9 – Luci Shaw
Uncertainty: After “The Annunciatory Angel”
“She pondered all these things in her heart”: After “Mary Considers Her Situation”
Ascend, Descend: After “Made Flesh”
Earth’s Carol: After “Some Christmas Stars”
January 2014: Poet #10 – Peter Steele
Epiphany: After “Madonna and Child”
Childhood: After “Star Man”
What He Meant: After “Crux”
Morning Song: After “An Ordinary Evening in Kew”
Essay: The Priest Who Chuckled In Poetry
February 2014: Poet #11 – Les Murray
Passacaglia in G Minor: After “An Absolutely Ordinary Rainbow”
First Things Last: After “Incorrigible Grace”
Schoolyard Grace: After “Equanimity”
Sprawl
March 2014: Poet #12 – Rowan Williams
Now I Tell You: After “Great Sabbath”
Concerto No.4: After “Bach for the Cello”
Morning Heart: After “First Thing”
Søren: After “Rublev”
The Consolations of Writing 
2 thoughts on “The 12 Poets Project”