The Ordering of Love

by L'ENGLE, MADELEINE

• ISBN13: 9780877880868
• ISBN10: 0877880867
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2005-03-15
• Publisher: Shaw Books

Summary

Praise forThe Ordering of Love By Madeleine L'Engle "In a brilliant marriage of myth and manner, histories sacred and profane, prayers of petition and of praise, these poems both articulate and illumine the trouble in the gap in which we livethe gap between human affections and Divine Love. L'Engle is unfailing in her willingness to seethroughnotaroundhuman suffering, and in so doing announces no final severing of spirit and flesh but an enduring vision of resurrection in that crux, in the cross, in the One in Whom all things meet, continuing." Scott Cairns, author ofSlow PilgrimandPhilokalia: New and Selected Poems "I love L'Engle's poetry for the way it incarnates not only the great Truths of the faith, but all the little truths of our ordinary existenceour working and playing and loving and fighting and dreaming and idling and all the rest of itand for the way it shows us that those big and little truths should not, cannot, be separated." Carolyn Arends, recording artist and author "Why is L'Engle one of the defining poets of our time? Because when life hurts, she does not shrink from the wounds. She clarifies the murk with hope as we feel the lift of grace." Calvin Miller, Beeson Divinity School Birmingham, Alabama "We are, all of us, the richer for this carefully crafted and prayerfully rendered collection." Phyllis Tickle, Author,The Divine Hours "Poetry, at least the kind I write, is written out of immediate need; it is written out of pain, joy, and experience too great to be borne until it is ordered into words. And then it is written to be shared." Madeleine L'Engle Madeleine L'Engle's writing has always translated the invisible and intricate qualities of love into the patterns and rhythms of visible life. Now, with compelling language and open-hearted vulnerability,The Ordering of Lovebrings together the exhaustive collection of L'Engle's poetry for the first time. This volume collects nearly 200 of L'Engle's original poems, including eighteen that have never before been published. Reflecting on themes of love, loss, faith, and beauty,The Ordering of Lovegives vivid and compelling insight into the language of the heart. From the Hardcover edition.

Author Biography

<b>Madeleine L’Engle</b> is a prolific writer of poetry, fiction, autobiography, and non-fiction commentaries on scripture and the Christian life. Best known for the Newbery Award—winning <i>A Wrinkle in Time</i> and her classic work on faith and art, <i>Walking on Water,</i> L’Engle is the author of over fifty books. She has been the recipient of numerous awards, medals, and honorary degrees, including the National Religious Book Award.

Table of Contents

Foreword by Walter Wangerin, Jr.	xv
Introduction: "Madeleine as Poet" by Luci Shaw	xxiii
From Lines Scribbled on an Envelope (1969)
To a Long-Loved Love	3	(2)
The Mermaid	5	(2)
Lines Scribbled on an Envelope While Riding the 104 Broadway Bus	7	(2)
Shout Joy!	9	(2)
"Body, the black horse and the white"	11	(1)
Medusa	12	(1)
Lines After Sir Thomas Browne	13	(1)
The Unicorn	14	(2)
Abraham's Child	16	(2)
The Promise	18	(2)
Primate	20	(1)
Testament	21	(2)
People in Glass Houses	23	(2)
The Phoenix	25	(2)
Moses	27	(3)
From St. Luke's Hospital (1)	30	(1)
Passion Play	31	(3)
For Dana: 4th November	34	(1)
The Roc	35	(2)
Instruments (1)	37	(2)
Instruments (2)	39	(1)
The Baby in the Bath	40	(3)
The Sea Monster	43	(2)
We Make Bold to Say	45	(2)
The Birth of Love	47	(1)
Fire by Fire	48	(1)
Summer City	49	(3)
Word	52	(1)
From St. Luke's Hospital (2)	53	(1)
The Monkey	54	(1)
Act III, Scene ii	55	(1)
Tree at Christmas	56	(2)
"The winter is cold, is cold"	58	(2)
Epithalamion	60	(1)
Burn, Charity	61	(2)
The Dragon	63	(2)
From St. Luke's Hospital (3)	65	(1)
Within This Strange and Quickened Dust	66	(1)
Song of Simeon	67	(2)
The Parrot	69	(1)
From St. Luke's Hospital (4)	70	(2)
Lines After M.B.'s Funeral	72	(1)
The Sea Bishop	73	(1)
Confession Shortly Before the Forty-eighth Birthday	74	(3)
From The Irrational Season (1977)
"Let us view with joy and mirth"	77	(2)
"As I grow older"	79	(2)
...And the Old Man Became as a Little Child...	81	(6)
On Valentine's Day, for a Saint Most Misunderstood	87	(1)
"Boarding school: someone cried jubilantly"	88	(3)
"Who shoved me out into the night?"	91	(3)
O Hilaritas	94	(1)
"How very odd it seems, dear Lord"	95	(2)
Great and Holy Saturday	97	(2)
"Seeking perspective in a hate-torn world"	99	(3)
All That Matters	102	(2)
"Go away. You can't come in. I'm shutting the door."	104	(1)
"Now we may love the child"	105	(2)
"When I pushed through the crowd"	107	(4)
"The children at the party"	111	(2)
"It is an old church"	113	(4)
"Rejoice!"	117	(2)
"Silence was the one thing we were not prepared for"	119	(2)
Love Letter Addressed To	121	(2)
"Sitting around your table"	123	(1)
"This is a strange place"	124	(1)
Mrs. Noah Speaking	125	(3)
"Suddenly they saw him the way he was"	128	(1)
The Air Bites Shrewdly	129	(1)
"Come, Lord Jesus, quickly come"	130	(5)
From The Weather of the Heart (1978)
To a Long Loved Love: 4	135	(1)
To a Long Loved Love: 5	136	(1)
To a Long Loved Love: 6	137	(1)
To a Long Loved Love: 7	138	(1)
Epiphany	139	(1)
Lovers Apart	140	(2)
Lines After Herbert: Rondel	142	(1)
Epidaurus: The Theatre: An Actor Muses	143	(1)
The Animals Do Judge	144	(2)
The Guests of Abraham	146	(1)
Jacob: Ballade	147	(1)
David	148	(2)
Song from the Fiery Furnace	150	(2)
Annunciation	152	(1)
After Annunciation	153	(1)
Like Every Newborn	154	(1)
The Risk of Birth, Christmas, 1973	155	(1)
...Set to the Music of the Spheres	156	(1)
For M.S.J., 20th June, 1968	157	(1)
Charlotte Rebecca Jones, 22nd August, 1969	158	(1)
Charlotte	159	(2)
Crosswicks	161	(1)
God's Beast	162	(1)
The Tenth Hour	163	(2)
Pentecost	165	(2)
Corinth	167	(1)
Ready for Silence	168	(2)
Advent, 1971	170	(2)
Come, Lord Jesus!	172	(1)
Come, Let Us Gather	173	(1)
At Communion	174	(1)
Martha	175	(1)
Temper My Intemperance	176	(1)
Sonnet After Thomas	177	(1)
Love Letter	178	(2)
For Ascension Day, 1967	180	(2)
After the Saturday Liturgy at Montfort	182	(2)
Star Light	184	(2)
Ascension, 1969	186	(1)
Sonnet, Trinity 18	187	(4)
From A Cry Like a Bell (1987)
Eve	191	(2)
"And God heard..."	193	(2)
Sarah: Before Mount Moriah	195	(2)
Abraham: With Laughter	197	(2)
The Rain: Caught in the Bush	199	(2)
Isaac	201	(2)
Esau	203	(2)
Rachel: At Joseph's Birth	205	(1)
Rachel: Birthing Benjamin	206	(2)
Benjamin's Birth	208	(2)
Leah	210	(2)
Leah: The Unloved	212	(1)
Jacob: After Rachel's Death	213	(1)
Pharaoh's Cross	214	(2)
Moses	216	(2)
Gershom: Son of Moses	218	(1)
Jepthah's Daughter	219	(2)
Jepthah's Daughter, 2	221	(2)
Naaman, the Leper	223	(2)
David: From Psalm 32	225	(1)
David: After Psalm 49	226	(1)
Psalm 55:12-14: A Contemplation of David	227	(2)
Herman the Ezragite: Psalm 88:18	229	(2)
Annunciation	231	(2)
Bearer of Love	233	(1)
The Bethlehem Explosion	234	(2)
Young Mary	236	(1)
Three Songs of Mary	237	(4)
O Simplicitas	237	(1)
O Oriens	238	(1)
O Sapientia	239	(2)
O Wise and Foolish Virgins	241	(1)
First Coming	242	(1)
The Wise Men	243	(2)
One King's Epiphany	245	(2)
"...and kill the Passover"	247	(2)
Mary: After the Baptism	249	(1)
The Preparation of Mary, Mother of Joses	250	(1)
Andrew	251	(1)
The Samaritan Woman at the Well	252	(2)
Song of Blind Bartimaeus After His Healing	254	(1)
The Woman	255	(2)
"When Mary asked..."	257	(1)
The High Priest's Servant	258	(2)
Andrew: Having Run Away from Jesus in the Garden	260	(1)
Magdalen	261	(1)
Mary of Magdala	262	(2)
Simon of Cyrene	264	(1)
Barabbas	265	(2)
Mary Speaks	267	(1)
Salome: At the Foot of the Cross	268	(2)
Three Days	270	(2)
Pieta	272	(2)
Mary: Afterwards	274	(2)
Thomas: After Seeing the Wounds	276	(1)
Peter	277	(2)
A Man from Phrygia, on Pentecost	279	(1)
Barnabas, Travelling to Antioch	280	(2)
Phoebe, Perhaps the Very First Deacon	282	(2)
Priscilla's Response to the Letter to the Hebrews	284	(8)
Mary Speaks: From Ephesus	292	(2)
Ephesus	294	(1)
Mary Magdalene, Remembering	295	(2)
"And Nicolas..."	297	(6)
Uncollected Poems (circa. 1966)
For Lent, 1966	303	(1)
The Stripper	304	(2)
The Baptism of Easter, 1966	306	(2)
Small Galaxy	308	(1)
For Pentecost, 1966 (I)	309	(1)
Lines After Hymn 456	310	(1)
"My sins, I fear, dear Lord, lack glamour"	311	(2)
Intention for Mass: Watts, Viet Nam, Johannesburg	313	(1)
"I am become like a pelican..."	314	(5)
Uncollected Poems (circa 1998)
Sonnet 1	319	(1)
Sonnet 2	320	(1)
Sonnet 3	321	(1)
Sonnet 4	322	(1)
Sonnet 5	323	(1)
Sonnet 6	324	(1)
Sonnet 7	325	(1)
Sonnet 8	326	(1)
Sonnet 9	327	(1)
Sonnet 10	328	(1)
Sonnet 11	329	(1)
Sonnet 12	330	(1)
Sonnet 13	331	(1)
Sonnet 14	332	(1)
Iona, 1	333	(1)
The Donkey	334	(2)
"The page is torn from a journal-though not mine-"	336	(1)
80	337	(2)
Editor's Note	339	(1)
Index of Titles	340	(7)
Index of First Lines	347