Whether you love poetry or haven't read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry's power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. It includes a selection of poems, each accompanied by a reflection exploring why poetry is vital to faith.

Mark Oakley

Title page

Copyright information

Epigraph

Dedication

Believing in Poetry

Paternoster

Procedure

Don’t give me the whole truth

North Haven

Love (III)

Tripping Over Joy

Prayer Before Birth

Song VIII

Getting It Across

Do not go gentle into that good night

Bird

Raptor

The Journey

Prayer

To the Harbormaster

Wedding

Missing God

Messengers

The Going

Untitled

The Sentry

Lightenings viii

Holy Sonnet XIV

God-Box

Demeter

The Starlight Night

Sunday School, Circa 1950

Landay, Afghanistan

Acknowledgements

Whether you love poetry or haven''t read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry''s power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. It includes a selection of poems, each accompanied by a reflection exploring why poetry is vital to faith.

Whether you love poetry or haven't read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry's power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. It includes a selection of poems, each accompanied by a reflection exploring why poetry is vital to faith, and how scripture, liturgy and theology are all poetry in motion.

For those who know they enjoy poetry, and those for whom it is just a memory from schooldays, here is a rich feast that enables us to rediscover poetry's power to startle, challenge and reframe our vision. Like throwing a pebble into water, a poem causes a 'splash of words' whose ripples can transform the way we see the world, ourselves and God. The Splash of Words argues that belief in poetry is vital for understanding that God is in the world as poetry is in a poem. It includes 40 poems from contemporary poets, as well as poems from earlier generations. Each is accompanied by a reflection, based on a deep understanding of poets and their art, which explores why poetry is vital to faith and how scripture, liturgy and theology are all poetry in motion.

"It's extremely unusual to meet anyone who isn't a specialist who has such a subtle feeling for language as he does". -- Sir Andrew Motion

Mark Oakley is Canon Chancellor of St Paul's Cathedral, London, and is well known for his interest in poetry and the arts. He is a regular columnist for the Church Times and The Tablet and frequently broadcasts on BBC Radio 4.

• A long awaited new book by one of today's most admired spiritual writers. The Collage of God has sold over 10,000 copies and was widely acclaimed. • Mark Oakley is in demand at literary festivals and hosts many poetry based events in St Paul's Cathedral to capacity audiences.

Whether you love poetry or haven't read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry's power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. Like throwing a pebble into water, a poem causes a 'splash of words' whose ripples can transform the way we see the world, ourselves and God. Through thirty selected poems, from the fourteenth century to the present day, Mark Oakley explores poetry's power to stir our settled ways of viewing the world and faith, shift our perceptions and even transform who we are.

'This beautiful and wise meditation centred around Mark Oakley's anthology of the 'soul language' of poetry opens new windows in the shared house of both poetry and belief.'

'A very moving book, opening all kinds of doors into a more compassionate, more truthful understanding.'

'A wonderful exposition of the relationship between faith, poetry and struggle.'

Whether you love poetry or haven't read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry's power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. Through thirty selected poems, Mark Oakley explores poetry's power to stir our settled ways of viewing the world and faith, shift our perceptions and even transform who we are.

\["For poetry lovers and those revisiting it from school", "Helps you reconnect with the transformative nature of poetry", "You will see the world, yourself, and God in new ways"\]

‘It's extremely unusual to meet anyone who isn't a specialist who has such a subtle feeling for language as he does.’ - Sir Andrew Motion

'This beautiful and wise meditation centred around Mark Oakley's anthology of the 'soul language' of poetry opens new windows in the shared house of both poetry and belief.' - Carol Ann Duffy, Poet Laureate

'Some writers have the gift of simply letting you know you can trust them. Mark Oakley has this gift in abundance: in this book we read in his company a succession of very diverse poems; we listen to his honest, careful, demanding reflections on them; and we recognise that this is a deeply authentic voice that can be relied on not to give us either clichés or indulgent ramblings. A very moving book, opening all kinds of doors into a more compassionate, more truthful understanding.' - Rowan Williams

'A wonderful exposition of the relationship between faith, poetry and struggle.' - Shami Chakrabarti, The Guardian

The Splash of Words invites you to rediscover the power of poetry in faith.

Splash of Words

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Splash of Words

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Whether you love poetry or haven''t read it since school, The Splash of Words will help you rediscover poetry''s power to startle, challenge and reframe your vision. It includes a selection of poems, each accompanied by a reflection exploring why poetry is vital to faith.

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