The Decline of Verse: A Plea for Christian Poets

It is the nature of regenerated man to voice his praise of God in poetry and song. Music and verse are natural handmaidens of true worship—that outpouring of soul in which the Christian seeks to express something of the worth-ship of God, of his adoration for and delight in his Creator and Redeemer.

Praise and worship require words, and these words more often than not take some form of poetry. Throughout the long ages saints have sung of the mercies of God in verse, and one of the richest heritages of Christianity is its shining treasury of poetry. Each age in Church history and each branch of Christian thought and experience has added its own peculiar riches to the story. What treasures are we twentieth century Christians contributing to the storehouse of worship? What inheritance are we passing on to our children and to our children’s children?

The Dearth of Praise

The truth is that Christian praise has fallen upon sorry times in our generation. Much contemporary evangelical verse lacks creative power, fresh imagery and literary artistry. Our songs, while published in greater quantity than ever before, are often weak, immature, subjective, lacking in skill and beauty, unworthy, sometimes even irreverent. If they speak glowingly of Christian experience, it is likely to be Christian experience of the most elementary type. Many of them seem to have but a nodding acquaintance with theology in its truly scriptural sense, and display little or no familiarity with the great doctrines of the Christian Church. Why?

The gravest and most basic reason for the poverty of our praise today is the shallowness of our Christian experience and our contentment with our spiritual status quo. We live in an age when contemplation is almost unknown; when bustle and rush are the order of the Christian day; when feverish activity is equated with true Christian service; when organization and modern methods of advertising and salesmanship are sought in place of the Spirit’s breath; when record-breaking crowds and dazzling statistics are accepted as hallmarks of spiritual success. Small wonder, then, that there is so little true poetry among us, that our mass-produced songs have so little depth. True praise is the outgrowth of long, silent, steadfast, adoring gazing upon the face of God: and few there be these days who know very much about such worship.

Even so, it would seem that Christian verse has suffered more than other forms of Christian literary expression. Why?

Editorial Policy

I wonder if much of the blame may not lie at the door of our contemporary religious journalism? Christian journalism has not failed to grow with the years. Some Christian periodicals now compare favourably in general editing and exterior qualities with the best in the secular field, while still retaining the Christian grace of restraint and the impress of true spirituality essential to a magazine of their calling. All honor to the clear-thinking and hard-working editors who have brought about such literary improvement.

Somewhat less sanguine, however, is the situation with regard to Christian verse. Many editors, quick to see in our contemporary poetry the sloppiness, sentimentality and poor workmanship that have made it an embarrassment to thinking Christians and a poor witness to the world, have sought to stem the flood of mediocrity by adopting a policy of publishing no verse at all. Others have so sharply restricted the space allotted to poetry that they might as well have banned it outright.

Thus has been brought about a situation which has not only failed to enrich the treasury of Christian praise, but has actually impoverished it. The door is virtually closed upon the Christian poet who, aware of the deficiencies of present-day Christian praise, would earnestly and intelligently seek to produce on a higher level. Good contemporary verse that might have followed the natural course of appearing in a conservative Christian periodical, attracting to itself a worthy musical setting, thence passing in time into a good hymn book and so entering the treasury of Christian worship, has no longer any outlet. After the same fashion the beautiful and worshipful hymns of the past which for generations have been kept before the Christian public by frequent reprinting in periodicals are brought before them no more; and so the grace and benison of good and timeless verse, which might have served as inspiration and model to new writers as well as food for the souls of all readers, is denied us.

Yet verse of one kind or another will always be written, for it is a natural expression of devotion to God. And Christian poetry need not be unworthy. Despite the compulsion of the times, there are still among us those of a contemplative turn of mind, possessed of a natural felicity of expression and a capacity for hard, self-critical work. These Christians seek the face of God, and on seeing it, cannot but burst forth in song. But what happens to such souls?

Compromise of Standards

Most of the magazines whose standards they respect use no poetry. Periodicals of lesser standing publish verse, but in so undiscriminating a manner as to repel a sensitive writer. Some verse-writers turn to the gospel song field, where a sort of success may readily be found; but many thoughtful writers, unable to reconcile themselves to the type of music involved, either leave the field or continue in it with a sense of unhappy compromise. Still other poets, unable to hold back their natural tide of song, turn to the secular field, albeit regretfully. Here, if he is able, a serious writer can find an outlet with satisfying artistic standards, but must publish with the knowledge that he is doing nothing for the cause of Jesus Christ whom he loves and truly desires to serve. No matter what compromise he makes, the Christian poet of any serious standards is unhappy.

Most such writers eventually turn to writing prose. If a man has anything real to say in verse, he will have something to say in prose; if he has any real skill as a poet, he can develop a facile and compelling prose style with a little effort. Editors of the best Christian periodicals will welcome his manuscripts, will pay him well, and will ask him for more work than he can do. His profession will possibly lay claim to his gifts, and before he knows it he will probably have produced a book or two, perhaps even in the Christian field. But although he may have found a worthy sphere of service, even of Christian service, he will never be wholly satisfied in such work.

If he has a singing soul, he will still want to write poetry. He will steep himself in the best of the secular and Christian writers, and will long to lift up his heart to God in song—good song, worthy song, true Christian praise. If he is a persistent person, he may have a private notebook, known only to a few kindred spirits, wherein his unrestrained songs lie hidden; or he may publish an occasional poem in an obscure paper; but he can never find his highest happiness in his writing, nor make his truest contribution to the devotional life of the Church of Christ.

The Waste of Talent

Artistic expression demands outlet if it is not to stagnate, and this is especially true of poetry. As one song finds outlet, another wells up within the heart of the singer. I venture to say that many of the most glorious and uplifting hymns of the Church might never have been written had not the authors had reasonable assurance of a suitable outlet. If for lack of such outlet today our contemporary stream of worthy praise is dried up at the source, who can measure the effect on the Church of the future? “Protestantism’s greatest gift to Christianity is, I think, its hymnody,” writes Dorothy Thompson in Reader’s Digest (Feb., 1960). The Christian Church of today needs, and sorely needs—needs as it has seldom needed before—the strength and inspiration of its singing souls. How little can we afford such waste of leadership in devotion, in worship, in praise!

What Solution?

It is up to our leading periodicals [had they courage to take the ban off Christian poetry,] to allot sufficient space to verse to allow its writers the scope they require. If they would then set up high standards and adhere steadfastly to them, would return all poor verse without comment and publish what is good; if they would regularly bring before their readers the best in Christian poetry of other ages, they might be surprised at the number of singing souls among us still, their melodies all but quenched by discouragement, who would lift up their hearts with a thrill of joy and begin anew again. And there might yet be produced in our generation contemporary songs that would become true and worthy instruments of God’s most holy praise, songs that would live to bless forever the hearts of worshiping believers everywhere.

E. MARGARET CLARKSON

Toronto, Canada

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