Many thanks to all for the further responses.
Sue, Gary, I'm grateful for your affirmation, particularly in view of other
negative comment.
Barbara, thanks, I've incorporated that amendment.
John, your comments are thoughtful, and on the nail.
I do have a weakness for writing "public" poetry--good, bad or indifferent I
don't know, but I've written a fair bit, mostly but not always on grim
events. Invariably I've found that such poems attract a proportion of
hostile comment, more so than anything else I've written. I do not dispute
the right of people to make such comments, of course.
Best regards,
David
----- Original Message -----
From: "Sue Scalf" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: 16 November 2003 18:16
Subject: Re: Nearer to Thee
> I am surprised by some of the reactions to this poem, especially that
anyone
> would be uncomfortable with a Christian poem just because this person is
an
> atheist or has no religious faith. I have read and appreciated many poems
that
> were atheistic, but I was never made uncomfortable by them even though I
am a
> Christian. Good poetry is more than dogma in my opinion. We are moved by
the
> compelling qualities of the poem, the power with which the ideas are set
> forth, and open-minded enough to realize there are many views in life with
which
> we may not agree in poetry, but we judge the poem's value on the power of
its
> presentation and the beauty of the writing. I should hope that most
atheists
> are not really narrow-minded about Christian values. Faith is a tenuous
and
> fragile thing for even the most devout Christian, and I believe it was
Tennyson
> who said, "There is more faith in honest doubt than in half the world's
> creeds." David, I liked the poem, but I think it needs to be divorced
from the
> hymn. It has to stand alone. Sue
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