5 Famous Poets Who Converted to Catholicism

[rug]

by Matthew Archbold Monday, October 14, 2013 10:15

It doesn't matter if they were atheists, modernists, or satirists, each found a home in the Catholic Church. Here's their stories.

1) Wallace Stevens

The poet Wallace Stevens is considered by many to be one of America’s greatest poets. He is the champion of many atheists as well. He once wrote in his book Opus Posthumous, “After one has abandoned a belief in God, poetry is that essence which takes its place as life’s redemption."

So you might see why so many are so opposed to a priest who said that Stevens was a deathbed convert to Catholicism.

To get an idea of Stevens, he won the Pulitzer Prize for poetry in 1955. He was an executive with an insurance company and a Republican. Stevens once argued with Robert Frost and lost a fight after breaking his hand on Hemingway’s jaw.

http://www.ncregister.com/blog/matthew-archbold/5-famous-poets-who-converted-to-catholicism




Wallace Stevens




Claude McKay




Oscar Wilde




Sally Read




Roy Campbell


A mixed bag. Each has a varied biography. Here's one of their poems.

Rest in Peace

No more for you the city's thorny ways,
The ugly corners of the Negro belt;
The miseries and pains of these harsh days
By you will never, never again be felt.

No more, if still you wander, will you meet
With nights of unabating bitterness;
They cannot reach you in your safe retreat,
The city's hate, the city's prejudice!

'Twas sudden--but your menial task is done,
The dawn now breaks on you, the dark is over,
The sea is crossed, the longed-for port is won;
Farewell, oh, fare you well! my friend and lover.


Claude McKay

[elleng]

1. Wallace Stevens

Sunday Morning:

Complacencies of the peignoir, and late
Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair,
And the green freedom of a cockatoo
Upon a rug mingle to dissipate
The holy hush of ancient sacrifice.
She dreams a little, and she feels the dark
Encroachment of that old catastrophe,
As a calm darkens among water-lights.
The pungent oranges and bright, green wings
Seem things in some procession of the dead,
Winding across wide water, without sound.
The day is like wide water, without sound,
Stilled for the passing of her dreaming feet
Over the seas, to silent Palestine,
Dominion of the blood and sepulchre.

[rug]

2. Excellent.

[elleng]

3. One of my favorites.

This line has been with me forever:

late Coffee and oranges in a sunny chair

Thanks for the reminder.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

4. Wallace Stevens was Vice President

of the Hartford Accident and Indemnity Company. One of their agents was Charles Ives.

Incidentally, Stevens' daughter disputed his deathbed conversion, saying it never happened.