Meditative poetry

Meditative poetry combines the religious practice of meditation with verse. It occurs in many cultures, especially in Asian, European and Hindu cultures. Especially Buddhist and Hindu writers have developed extensive theories and phase models for meditation (Bevis 1988;73-88).

In Christianity, meditation became a major devotional practice during the Middle Ages, closely associated with the life in monasteries. Definitions vary, but there were various attempts to distinguish meditation from contemplation. While meditation focuses the mind on a text, preferably from the Bible, contemplation will take a concrete object, such as a candle, to concentrate the thoughts of the mind. Both, contemplation and meditation had the same end, to seek unity with God.

During the Protestant Reformation and Counter-Reformation, Jesuits like Ignatius of Loyola formalized the process of meditation, as a channeling of memory, understanding and will. His method of meditation fell into three main parts: A) prayer and composition of place; B) the examination of points (analysis); the colloquies (the dialogue with God as a climax) (Martz 1962, 27-32). Jesuits brought this practice to England (Daly 1978: 72). Calvinist and other Protestants adapted meditation to Bible studies.

Puritan meditation emphasized self-examination, applying Bible verses to contemporary, everyday life. In 1628, Thomas Taylor wrote a Puritan handbook Meditation from the Creatures, recommending to include images from the sensible world (metaphorical of God's glory). In colonial New England, Thomas Hooker defined meditation in The Souls Preparation for Christ (1632) as follows: "It is a settled exercise for two ends: first to make a further inquiry of the truth: and secondly, to make the heart affected therewith."

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