Lenten Poetry 2026: Abram Van Engen on George Herbert

Today is the last installment of this year's Lent series. Grace welcomes Dr. Abram Van Engen to discuss all things George Herbert, much to her delight (a bit of fangirling over Herbert is always in order). They focus on the beautiful, dense, multilayered poem "The Altar." Abram Van Engen is Stanley Elkin Professor in the Humanities, Chair of the English Department, and Professor of Religion and Politics (by courtesy) at Washington University in St. Louis. Van Engen has published widely on religion and literature, focusing especially on seventeenth-century Puritans and the way they have been remembered and remade in American culture. His book, Word Made Fresh, introduces reading poetry as a spiritual practice. He hosts the podcast Poetry for All. Here is the text, but be forewarned that the shape of it might be altered (get it?) in the podcast notes, so do look it up to see the poem's proper shape.  A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,  Made of a heart and cemented with tears:   Whose parts are as thy hand did frame; No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.                    A HEART alone                    Is such a stone,                   As nothing but                   Thy pow'r doth cut.                   Wherefore each part                   Of my hard heart                   Meets in this frame,                   To praise thy name:        That if I chance to hold my peace,  These stones to praise thee may not cease.    Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,      And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.

In the latest installment of the Lent series, Grace welcomes Amy Baik Lee to discuss the poignant Sonnet 19 by the great John Milton. When I consider how my light is spent,    Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,    And that one Talent which is death to hide    Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent To serve therewith my Maker, and present    My true account, lest he returning chide;    “Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”    I fondly ask. But patience, to prevent That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need    Either man’s work or his own gifts; who best    Bear his mild yoke, they serve him best. His state Is Kingly. Thousands at his bidding speed    And post o’er Land and Ocean without rest:    They also serve who only stand and wait.”   Amy Baik Lee is the author of This Homeward Ache: How Our Yearning for the Life to Come Spurs on Our Life Today. Her cross-cultural childhood gave her a love for a wide variety of musical and storytelling forms; she grew up to study English literature at the University of Virginia and develop a deep interest in the intersection where faith, the imagination, eucatastrophe, and daily life meet. Her work has been featured by the Rabbit Room, the Anselm Society, Cultivating Magazine, the C.S. Lewis Foundation, the Marion E. Wade Center, the Buechner Review, the One Thousand Words podcast, and others. Away from the writing desk, she enjoys baking and watching birds in the garden with her family in Colorado. Find out more about Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths. Support Old Books with Grace.

Today, Grace welcomes professor and author David Taylor in this installment of the Lenten poetry series. They talk about the great nineteenth-century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and in particular, his masterpiece “The Wreck of the Deutschland.”  W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of ten books, including Open and Unafraid, Glimpses of the New Creation, Naming the Spirit, and the forthcoming, To Set the World Aflame. An Anglican priest, he has written for The Washington Post, Christian Scholars Review, Image Journal, and Christianity Today, among others, while also contributing scholarly essays to The T&T Clark Companion to Theology and the Arts and Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts. He lives on 21 acres east of Austin with his artist wife and children. Support Old Books with Grace.

Today, Grace welcomes professor and author David Taylor in this installment of the Lenten poetry series. They talk about the great nineteenth-century poet, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and in particular, his masterpiece “The Wreck of the Deutschland.”  W. David O. Taylor is Associate Professor of Theology & Culture at Fuller Theological Seminary and the author of ten books, including Open and Unafraid, Glimpses of the New Creation, Naming the Spirit, and the forthcoming, To Set the World Aflame. An Anglican priest, he has written for The Washington Post, Christian Scholars Review, Image Journal, and Christianity Today, among others, while also contributing scholarly essays to The T&T Clark Companion to Theology and the Arts and Theology, Modernity and the Visual Arts. He lives on 21 acres east of Austin with his artist wife and children. Support Old Books with Grace.

Grace is delighted to kick off this year’s Lent series. Every other week during Lent Grace will have a guest who has chosen a Lenten-themed poem to share. Today, though, is just a little meditative beginning with three Middle English poems, text below, translations by Grace Hamman.  Westminster Abbey MS 27 (175 in Carleton Brown's XVth Century Lyrics) Wise men bene but scorned, & wedows eke foryerned, Grete men arn bot glosid, & smale men arn borne doun & myslosed, Lordis wex euer blynd, Ffrendis ben vnkynde, Dethe is oute of mynde, Treuth may no man fynde.   Wise men are only mocked, and widows are forgotten, Great men are flattered, & the little ones are downtrodden and blamed, The powerful grow ever more blind, Friends become unkind, Death has left the mind, Truth itself no man can find.   Advocates Lib. 18.7.21 (66 in Brown's XIVth Century Lyrics) Loue me brouthte, & loue me wrouthte, Man, to be thi fere. Loue me fedde, & loue me ledde, & loue me lettet here.   Loue me slou, & loue me drou, & loue me leyde on bere. Loue is my pes, For loue I ches, Man to by3en dere.   Ne dred the nouth I haue the south, Bothen day & nith, to hauen the, Wel is me, I haue the wonnen in fith.   Love brought me, Love wrought me, Man, to be your advocate. Love fed me, Love led me, And love stopped me here.   Love slew me, Love drew me, Love laid me on bier. Love is my peace, For love I chose Man to buy so dear [at a high cost].   Dread thee nought, For I have thee sought, Both day and night. In having thee Well is me. I have won thee in the fight.   Advocates MS 19. I. II, (111 in Brown's XVth Century Lyrics)   I Haue laborede sore and suffered deyth, and now I Rest and draw my breyght, but I schall come and call Ryght sone heuene and erght and hell to dome; and thane schall know both devyll and mane, What I was and what I ame.   I have labored sore and suffered death, and now I rest and draw my breath, but I shall come and call very soon heaven and earth and hell to doom [judgment]; And then shall know, both devil and man, What I was and who I am.

Today, Grace chats with the poet Paul Pastor on another poet, the revolutionary thinker and artist William Blake.  Paul J. Pastor is Executive Editor of Nelson Books at HarperCollins, an essayist, critic, and poet, writer of The Rose Fire on Substack, and author of several books, most recently The Locust Years: Poems, from Wiseblood Books. He lives in Oregon.  Grace is going to take a sabbatical from Old Books with Grace for a few months as she and her family are in the middle of several big projects and changes. You can keep up with her at gracehamman.substack.com while she's taking a break from the podcast, though! Support Old Books with Grace

Today Grace welcomes Elizabeth Oldfield to recast these ancient ideas of vices and virtues into contemporary language. Why should we care about these ancient and sometimes worn-thin concepts? How can they speak to our world today--even if that world does not believe the same things as the church believes? Elizabeth Oldfield is the author of Fully Alive: Tending to the Soul in Turbulent Times. She is a speaker, coach, and consultant, and the host of The Sacred podcast. Elizabeth has a masters in Theology and the Arts and lives in an intentional Christian community in South London with her family.

Today, Grace welcomes author Lisa Colón DeLay to discuss the fascinating ancient Christians that we now call the Desert Fathers and Mothers. People like Evagrius, Amma Theodora, St. Moses the Black, St. Anthony the Great, and many others offer deep wisdom in their own time and to us today. Lisa Colón DeLay is the author of The Wild Land Within and has an MA in spiritual formation. She writes, teaches, and creates products and resources related to spiritual formation. Since 2015, she has hosted Spark My Muse, a top-rated religion and spirituality podcast. DeLay grew up in Pittsburgh, having left her native country of Puerto Rico, and now resides near the Appalachian Trail in a small town in Pennsylvania. Discover more, including more links and more information on her new book and the desert fathers and mothers, at lisadelay.com. Learn more about Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues & Vices for a Whole & Holy Life.

This week, Grace welcomes her dear friend from graduate school, fellow medievalist Dr. Jessica D. Ward, to discuss one of their favorites: Geoffrey Chaucer, author of the great Canterbury Tales! Come for Middle English, discussions of why Chaucer deserves his reputation, and continuing discussion of the backgrounds in Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths, as Grace and Jessica discuss their mutual interests in the Parson's Tale and penitential literature. Dr. Jessica D. Ward is an early English literature scholar. She has taught undergraduate and graduate courses on medieval and early modern literature, culture, and language and has written for various academic journals and collections on these topics.  She has served as a dramaturg for professional Shakespeare productions in New York as well as in Texas, where she now lives with her husband, toddler son, and their spunky little lion dog, Oscar, the shih tzu. She enjoys delighting in Middle English and its muses and legacies on Substack in her newsletter Middle English Delights.  Buy Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues & Vices for a Whole & Holy Life. 

Grace invites on one of her heroes (!), Professor Rebecca Konyndyk DeYoung, professor of medieval philosophy and author of Glittering Vices. They talk Aquinas, vices, Jane Austen, and more in this delightful conversation.  Rebecca DeYoung (Ph.D. University of Notre Dame) has enjoyed teaching ethics and the history of ancient and medieval philosophy at Calvin College for over 20 years.  Her research focuses on the seven deadly sins, and virtue ethics, as well as Thomas Aquinas’s work on the virtues. Her books include Glittering Vices, Vainglory, and a co-authored volume entitled Aquinas’s Ethics.  Awards for her work include the Book and Essay Prize from the Character Project and the C.S. Lewis prize for Glittering Vices. She speaks widely, including opportunities to teach in prison. She and her husband Scot live in Grand Rapids, near the beautiful Lake Michigan shoreline. They have four adult children. Check out Grace's new book, Ask of Old Paths: Medieval Virtues & Vices for a Whole & Holy Life