Robert G. Waldron

Well-intentioned, competent, and hopeful, but not likely to leave a great mark. An academic dealing with a disabling depression attends a monastic retreat to seek out the famous poet he idolizes, who a decade ago left the outside world to become a monk. An agnostic, he nevertheless feels the pull of the spiritual while on the peaceful and holy grounds, and starts to open up to the possibilities of connection with something greater.

The book deserves credit for a mostly believable evolution of the main character's attitudes; he doesn't go from agnostic to believer in 120 pages after one week of attending a monastic retreat under false pretenses. Rather, he has taken a step.

The writing is not without displays of talent, however characters repeatedly have sudden and wild mood swings throughout the story, which is distracting. And some parts of the story don't quite seem believable (the main character has written the definitive analysis of the popular poet's work, but completely missed the religious aspects of said poetry and had never heard that suggested until a fellow retreat attendee clues him in?)… (més)

When The Seven Story Mountain was first published, Merton was hailed as a new, contemporary spiritual voice and became one of the most popular and successful writers and commentators on modern religion and spirituality. But although Merton wrote over forty books on the importance of reflection and prayer in our inner lives, until now we have known very little about Merton's own 'way of prayer'. The distinguished Merton scholar Robert Waldron's new book is the first to fully explore the inner life of perhaps the best-known writer on prayer of the twentieth century. - from the publisher… (més)

Waldron opens his essay with a general discussion of the merits of poetry, quoting the remarks of James Joyce, Simone Weil, T. S. Eliot, and others to make his case that: “Poetry, like the mystical prayer of saints, plunges us into the spiritual depths where there can be a real encounter with the Divine.” It is poetry, Waldron claims, that “led poets like T. S. Eliot from agnosticism to belief in God, Francis Thompson from the degradation of drug addiction to re-embracing his faith, and G. M. Hopkins to his conversion to Catholicism. . . . and Simone Weil to feel that she was possessed by Christ.”

Before embarking on a recitation of Francis Thompson’s “The Hound of Heaven,” Waldron offers a brief and poignant biography of Thompson, detailing the poet’s troubles in finding a profession that suited both himself and his family, as well as his lifelong on-again-off-again struggle with drug addiction. Waldron describes “Hound” as “a prayer-poem [that] speaks to the deepest longings of our spirits.”

Following the poem, Waldron gives a thoughtful and thought-provoking phrase-by-phrase analysis of the poet’s words, as he follows Thompson’s flight from God, echoing the words of Psalm 138: “Where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your face?”

I recommend both the poem and Waldron’s analysis for those who, in Thomas Merton’s words, find “spiritual vitality” in an art that “enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.” As Waldron proposes: “For those with the eyes to see and the ears to hear, there is enough meditation material in The Hound of Heaven to last a lifetime.”… (més)

I quit reading at p.22. I bought this book; I love Gerard Manley Hopkins' poems. This is published by Paulist Press, whom I respect, but somehow this book beat all the odds and is just not worth my time. After a preface (with an admittedly interesting premise that Hopkins' poems of anguish were generated by a lack of touching and a rigorous suppression of his (homo)sexual nature), the author also has a foreword. A preface AND an introduction, written by the author himself? This seems to be the new style.

The opening sentence of the first chapter almost halted me; it should have.
"Summer again! If we can call this rainy, cold season summer. It's time for me to write another 'Walking With' book.I'm excited because Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) is one of my favorite poets."… (més)