For For readers of his contemplative poetry and of the theme of Wisdom; short, and best read slowly.
Should I read this?
For the general reader
2 of 5worth a look
For the researcher
4 of 5important
Difficulty
3 of 5demanding
A prose-poem in four parts on Holy Wisdom, structured on the hours of the monastic day.
How it proceeds
Philosophic2 of 5
Scriptural2 of 5
Experiential5 of 5
Sociological0 of 5
Historical1 of 5
Independent intensities, 0–5 — what the work is made of, not how good it is.
A prose-poem on Holy Wisdom (Hagia Sophia), hand-printed by Victor Hammer at the Stamperia del Santuccio in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1962. Merton follows the hours of the day, from dawn to compline, and draws on the Wisdom literature of the Bible and on the theme of Sophia in Russian Orthodox thought. It is included in Emblems of a Season of Fury (1963) and The Collected Poems (1977).
