Why Christian poetry?

• Rachel Fulton Brown, “Introduction,” in Writing Christian Poetry (Chicago: DCR Books, 2023)—how without poetry, Christianity dies. Essential.

• Anthony Esolen, Ironies of Faith: The Laughter at the Heart of Christian Literature (Wilmington, Delaware: ISI Books, 2007)—highly recommended as an introduction to the joy of Christian literature in both poetry and prose. Gripping reading of Gerard Manley Hopkins in particular.

• Malcolm Guite, Faith, Hope, and Poetry: Theology and the Poetic Imagination (London: Routledge, 2016)—outstanding argument for the necessity of poetry in training the Christian imagination. Essential reading.

• Andrew Thornton-Norris, The Spiritual History of English (The Social Affairs Unit, 2009)—good overall survey of what went wrong when English literature abandoned its Catholic roots.

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Handbooks on Meter and Stanza Form

• Stephen Fry, The Ode Less Traveled: Unlocking the Poet Within (London: Arrow Books, 2007)—good for exercises and not worrying overmuch about theme, but NB that Mr. Fry is known to have written some, um, somewhat spicy verse, albeit not published in this book. Here he concentrates on meter and stanza, not subject matter.

• William Baer, Writing Metrical Poetry: Contemporary Lessons for Mastering Traditional Forms (Cincinnati, Ohio: Writer’s Digest Books, 2006)—Catholic professor of creative writing, exercises in writing traditional verse forms including blank verse, quatrains, couplets, and sonnets.

• Robert Pinsky, The Sounds of Poetry: A Brief Guide (New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998)—elegant discussion of poetry as a type of performance, intended to be read aloud.

• Philip Davies Roberts, How Poetry Works: The Elements of English Poetry (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1986)—useful discussion of meter as stress and the importance of reading poetry out loud.

• John Martineau, Trivium: The Classical Arts of Grammar, Logic, and Rhetoric (New York: Bloomsbury, 2016)—excellent overall reference for basic stanza forms and meters. Also a dictionary of logical terms and rhetorical figures and tropes. The chart on p. 131 of different meters is essential.

• Jeffrey Burghauser, The Heavy Lifting: A Boy's Guide to Writing Poetry (Nashville: New English Review Press, 2023). In case you’re not persuaded that writing poetry is the coolest things ever, a boys’ introduction to the craft of tinkering with meter and rhyme.

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Model Christian Poets—A Selection

• Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock and Other Major Writings, ed. Leo Damrosch (London: Penguin Classics, 2011)—the master of iambic pentameter. DCR used his Dunciad as our inspiration for Centrism Games.

• Gerard Manley Hopkins, Mortal Beauty, God's Grace: Major Poems and Spiritual Writings, ed. John F. Thornton and Susan B. Varenne (New York: Vintage, 2003)—pied-beauty. Incomparable.

• G.K. Chesterton, Lepanto, ed. Dale Ahlquist (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2004)—must be read out loud!

• J.R.R. Tolkien, “Mythopoeia,” in Tree and Leaf (London: HarperCollins, 1964)—our mission statement.

• Dana Gioia, Interrogations at Noon (St. Paul, Minnesota: Gray Wolf Press, 2001)—“Words” will leave you wordless.

• Anthony Esolen, The Hundredfold: Songs for the Lord (San Francisco: Ignatius Press, 2019)—another model for rewriting Scripture in iambic pentameter. Haunting.

• Malcolm Guite, David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2021); Sounding the Seasons: Seventy Sonnets for the Christian Year (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2012)—joyous and intricate.

• Richard Kieckhefer, There Once Was a Serpent: A History of Theology in Limericks (Winchester: O Books, 2010)—our very own Mel is not the only one writing theological limericks! A masterful short history of Christian theology.

• Carl Winderl, The Gospel According to...Mary (Georgetown, Kentucky: Finishing Line Press, 2021)—reviewed by Rachel Fulton Brown, Foreshadow 8.12.2022.

• Joe Long, The Wisdom and Folly: A Book of Devotional Doggerel (Murrells Inlet, SC: Covenant Books, 2020)—rollicking folly!

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Reading and Talking About Poetry

• Zaklog and the Great Literature. YouTube channel with memorized recitations of great poetry. 

• Discussing “Wormword” by C.S. Lewis. Professor Fulton Brown talks with Nate and Zaklog the Great, February 22, 2019.

• Discussing “Re-adjustment” by C.S. Lewis. Professor Fulton Brown talks with Travis and Zaklog the Great, August 30, 2019.

• Discussing John Donne’s Holy Sonnet 5. Professor Fulton Brown talks with Travis and Zaklog the Great, June 11, 2020.

• “The Wisdom and Folly of King Solomon and Joe Long.” Professor Fulton Brown talks with fellow poet Joe Long, October 2, 2020.

• “A Poetry Class for the End of the World.” Professor Fulton Brown talks with Milo Yiannopoulos about William Butler Yeats’s “The Second Coming,” at Censored.tv, January 7, 2021.

• Discussing “As Kingfishers Catch Fire” by Gerard Manley Hopkins. Professor Fulton Brown talks with Travis and Zaklog the Great, January 21, 2021.

• “Parents: Why all the storytelling?” Professor Fulton Brown talks at St. John Cantius Church, Chicago, March 12, 2022.

• “Draco Alchemicus: On Writing Christian Fantasy.” Professor Fulton Brown talks at BasedCon II, September 10, 2022.

• “Introducing Draco Alchemicus: An Interview with Professor Rachel Fulton Brown.” With Declan Hurley and Matthew Heck, The Chicago Thinker Official, June 4, 2023.

• Discussing “The Donkey” by G.K. Chesterton. Professor Fulton Brown talks with Nate and Zaklog the Great. July 31, 2023.

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Syllabus for Professor Fulton Brown’s course on “Writing Christian Poetry” at the University of Chicago

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More resources and models archived in Dragons’ Keep

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