Bret van den Brink
@BretVDB
“the only just literary critic is Christ” | @UofT MA Student (PhD in the fall) | @TrinityWestern alum | poet & lover of poetry from Spenser to Stevens | 🇨🇦
My name might be writ in water, but my tweet is written in ink—thanks Matt!
Post of the week, courtesy of @BretVDB
I think I’ll begin intoning those last two lines to myself whenever I see people substituting Grok for independent thought.
“But what more oft in Nations grown corrupt, And by thir vices brought to servitude, Then to love Bondage more then Liberty, Bondage with ease then strenuous liberty.” —John Milton, Sampson Agonistes
I’m nearing 2,600 followers: if you enjoy poetry or theology, you would probably enjoy following my account.
“The Clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober colouring from an eye That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; Another race hath been, and other palms are won.” —William Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood”
When I was in high school, a nearby bookstore had a copy of Gordon Teskey’s The Poetry of John Milton (an important book for me). They stopped stocking such books years ago, to make room for various knick-knacks, and articles of clothing, and whatnot.
Alas, it’s difficult enough to find a bookstore with a decent arts and letters section.
I love it when famous literary critics are given invited lectureships, which are then published as little books.
“Who would not sing for Lycidas? he knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. He must not float upon his wat'ry bier Unwept, and welter to the parching wind, Without the meed of some melodious tear.” —John Milton, “Lycidas”
I am very sad to report that the wonderful Catholic poet Jane Greer @NorthDakotaJane has died. Please keep her soul, her family and her husband Jim in your prayers.
A year back, I chatted with some friends about George Herbert’s “Prayer (1)” on our podcast (I forget if we said anything sensible). Link below.
Herbert’s poem “Prayer” stuns me every time.
“Who alive can say, ‘Thou art no Poet—may'st not tell thy dreams?’ Since every man whose soul is not a clod Hath visions, and would speak, if he had loved And been well nurtured in his mother tongue.” —John Keats, The Fall of Hyperion
Can’t one accuse a Kantian of being a Utilitarian in peace these days?
Final proofs are finished. 30 poems + 4 essays on Homer, Virgil, Dante, and the Romantics. Soon!
Intro to Philosophy really made me think that runaway trolleys would be a bigger problem in life.
“Sure not all Those melodies sung into the world's ear Are useless: sure a poet is a sage; A humanist, physician to all men. That I am none I feel, as vultures feel They are no birds when eagles are abroad.” —John Keats, The Fall of Hyperion