Auden, The Psalms, and Me

J. Chester Johnson

Description

• A “first person narrative,” key to the work and prayer of the current Book of Common Prayer • Appeal to those interested in literature or in the history of the BCP In the nearly 40 years since the advent of the 1979 Book of Common Prayer, the retranslation of the Psalter created for that book has become a standard, used not only by Episcopalians, but adopted by others into their own worship service books and liturgies. Now J. Chester Johnson, one of the two surviving members of the Committee that produced the retranslation, has agreed for the first time to calls to tell the story of this Psalter and the little-known but vital part played in it by acclaimed poet W. H. Auden, whom Johnson replaced on the committee when Auden decided to return to live in England. Despite Auden’s ambivalence about changes in the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer, he wrote associated articles and poems, authored many letters—some of special liturgical and spiritual significance— and attended Psalter drafting committee meetings. Auden, The Psalms, and Me not only illuminates this untold part of the Episcopal Psalter story but also describes the key elements that drove the creation of this special retranslation.

Sujets

• Religion
• Christianisme
• Episcopalian
• Philosophie et théologie
• Christianity

Informations

• Publié par: Church Publishing Incorporated
• Date de parution: 01 septembre 2017
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780898699654
• Langue: English

Extrait

AUDEN, THE PSALMS, AND ME
AUDEN, THE PSALMS, AND ME
J. C HESTER J OHNSON
Copyright © 2017 by J. Chester Johnson
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the publisher.
“Letter to Lord Byron,” copyright © 1937 and renewed 1962 by W.H. Auden; “New Year Letter,” copyright © 1941 and renewed 1969 by W.H. Auden; “Thanksgiving for a Habitat,” 1963 by W.H. Auden and renewed 1991 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; “Academic Graffiti,” copyright © 1960 by W.H. Auden and renewed 1988 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; “For the Time Being,” copyright © 1944 and renewed 1972 by W.H. Auden; “Memorial for the City,” “In Praise of Limestone,” and “The Love Feast,” copyright © 1951 by W.H. Auden and renewed 1979 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; “Luther,” copyright © 1940 and renewed 1968 by W.H. Auden; “Doggerel by a Senior Citizen,” copyright © 1969 by W.H. Auden; “Secrets,” copyright © 1950 by The Curtis Publishing Company. Copyright renewed 1978 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; “Address to the Beasts,” copyright © 1973 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; and “Bucolics,” copyright © 1952 by W.H. Auden and renewed 1980 by The Estate of W.H. Auden; from W. H. AUDEN COLLECTED POEMS by W. H. Auden. Used by permission of Random House, an imprint and division of Penguin Random House LLC. All rights reserved. Any third party use of this material, outside of this publication, is prohibited. Interested parties must apply directly to Penguin Random House LLC for permission.
Other permissions associated with this book appear in the Acknowlegdments section and in a separate section herein entitled “Permissions.”
Church Publishing 19 East 34th Street New York, NY 10016 www.churchpublishing.org
Cover design by Paul Soupiset Typeset by Rose Design
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A record of this book is available from the Library of Congress.
ISBN-13: 978-0-89869-964-7 (pbk.) ISBN-13: 978-0-89869-965-4 (ebook)
for Freda, who knew, better than I, the immediate doesn’t always displace the important
Contents
Acknowledgments
Explanatory Note
1. A Strange Introduction
2. Without Warning
3. W. H. Auden and the Letter of July 6, 1971
4. Psalms as Poetry
5. The Crucibles
6. Auden in Print
7. Dear Canon Guilbert from W. H. Auden
8. Psalms for the 1979 Book of Common Prayer: Purpose, Principles, Process
9. Psalms in the Balance
Appendix I
Additional Examples of Literary Devices Employed by Thomas Cranmer in the Book of Common Prayer (1549/1552)
Appendix II
Additional Examples of Literary Devices Employed by Miles Coverdale in the Psalms of the Great Bible of 1540
Permissions
Acknowledgments
At the outset, I want to thank David Lehman, the poet, editor, and anthologist, for his curiosity and interest in the retranslation of the psalms by the Episcopal Church, which is the version now included in the Church’s Book of Common Prayer, for which W. H. Auden and I crossed paths in the early 1970s, when we served as the two poets on the drafting committee for the retranslation. As a result of David’s request that I write about this experience for the Best American Poetry blog, and through the essential assistance of its managing editor, Stacey Harwood, the Best American Poetry blog distributed my initial articles on this subject in 2012: “On Working with W. H. Auden on the Psalms” and “Auden on Prayer Book Revision: No More Mr. Nice Guy?”
I’m also grateful to the editors at the Papers de Versalia project in Spain that has issued a series of volumes in Spanish on major poets over the last few years, including Rainer Maria Rilke, Emily Dickinson, Giuseppe Ungaretti, and now, W. H. Auden, the latter volume being entitled W. H. Auden: Quaderns de Versalia , in which my own article, “Auden: Defender at Dusk,” first appeared in 2014. In turn, I want to thank the staff of the literary journal Green Mountains Review , especially its editor-in-chief, Elizabeth Powell, for publishing, also in 2014, the English version of “Auden: Defender at Dusk.”
Appreciation is also due to the poet and translator, Ann Cefola, who conducted an extensive interview with me entitled, “After Auden: Retranslating the Psalms.” This piece was published in 2015 by the literary journal Illuminations ; I’m grateful to its editor, Simon Lewis.
Portions of this book build on the contents of the above mentioned and previously published articles, though numerous adjustments have been made to the text of those pieces to incorporate associated concepts, opinions, and historical circumstances into this volume.
I should also extend my thanks to the Archives of the Episcopal Church for giving me the opportunity to examine and use certain archival correspondence from 1967 by W. H. Auden to his parish priest at the time, the Rev. J. C. Michael Allen, and by and between W. H. Auden and the Rev. Canon Charles M. Guilbert from 1967–1968. When this latter correspondence occurred, Canon Guilbert was custodian of the Book of Common Prayer, chairman of the drafting committee for the Episcopal Psalter retranslation project, and an important member of the Standing Liturgical Commission of the Episcopal Church, which functioned as the oversight body for the retranslation and liturgical revisions to the Episcopal Book of Common Prayer. Among other issues, the correspondence between Auden and Guilbert dealt mainly with (1) the retranslation of the Psalter project by the Episcopal Church, then underway; (2) the revision of the entire Book of Common Prayer, also being pursued at that time by the Episcopal Church; and (3) Auden’s specific role in and views about various matters related to the Psalter retranslation, including adjustments then being considered for particular psalms, and his individual judgments toward the revision of certain other parts of the Book of Common Prayer. The Archives of the Episcopal Church has also provided to me copies of correspondence between Canon Guilbert and me that I had lost or misplaced over the years, and additionally has conducted several searches through its records to satisfy other ad hoc requests I have made during the writing of this book.
The Rt. Rev. David Stancliffe, who held the position of chairman of the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission from 1993 to 2005 when both Common Worship: Services and Prayers and Common Worship: Daily Prayer were produced and who is acknowledged as a chief architect of the revised version of the psalms embodied in those volumes, was particularly generous in his responses to my inquiries about the various uses of the 1979 Episcopal Psalter both in the development of the Common Worship psalms and for worship purposes and services by the Church of England during Dr. Stancliffe’s tenure as chairman of the Church of England’s Liturgical Commission.
I would definitely be remiss not to express my sincere and deep appreciation to Edward Mendelson, Auden’s literary executor and principal biographer. For the last three decades, he has not only been a good friend but also a source of encyclopedic knowledge and enlightened perspective about W. H. Auden; some of my most enjoyable moments have been those shared with Edward over many dinners, discussing Auden’s extraordinary life, prose, and poetry. Several letters, penned by W. H. Auden (copyright by the Estate of W. H. Auden), were allowed to be quoted herein.
I wish to thank my editors at Church Publishing Incorporated, Nancy Bryan and Milton Brasher-Cunningham, for their goodwill, professionalism, and considerable skills in enhancing the quality and appeal of this book.
By recognizing a long time ago the story’s intrinsic pertinence, my wife, Freda, has had good reason to anticipate the book’s completion, and toward that end, she has invigorated each step of the way, whether research or composition. Freda has read and commented on much of the text, offering wisdom and valuable criticism, and this book and I have been the resultant beneficiaries.
Explanatory Note
I N THE INITIAL PRAYER BOOK for the Church of England, Thomas Cranmer did not include a Psalter, but he incorporated the use of psalms at various points of worship with the presumption that Miles Coverdale’s Great Bible of 1540 would be employed for the Book of Common Prayer of 1549—after all, the 1540 edition of the Great Bible contained a preface written by Thomas Cranmer. And yet, he did not bind those psalms within the original prayer book. The 1662 version of the Book of Common Prayer was the first to include psalms within the bounds of the book itself.
The current edition of the prayer book of the Episcopal Church, initially published in 1979, has allowed me to footnote, as appropriate, references to and specific language from the most recently retranslated psalms. However, the version of the psalms contained in the 1540 Great Bible is not of a nature to be readily relied upon for that purpose and footnoted in that fashion. While there is an underlying document in the form of the Great Bible, a comparison between the psalms of the 1979 Episcopal prayer book and those of the Great Bible would be virtually impossible without considerable adjustments being applied to the latter psalms to make them comprehensible to the present-day reader.
After spending a good deal of time with the psalms contained in Coverdale’s 1540 Great Bible and with lines from the Book of Common Prayer of 1549 compiled by Cranmer, I have concluded it is much easier to read and decipher the words of Cranmer than those of Coverdale in the original forms of their respective books. Though the two documents were written within a few years of each other, Cranmer’s texts are less burdened with the obstacles I find in Coverdale. I don’t mean to devalue, in the least, the majestic beauty of the poetic style and rhythmic languag