Chapters Into Verse: Poetry in English Inspired by the Bible Volume 1: Genesis to Malachi

This unusual anthology catalogues the tradition of English poetry written in response to the Bible. And while it's somewhat puzzling that Atwan ( The Best American Essays ) and Wieder ( The Last Century: Selected Poems ) believe that this scriptural tradition has ``led a shadow existence'' and received short shrift compared to the classical, their book is unique: it provides both the passages from the King James version and the poems they inspired. Only poems of high merit, written with reference to specific passages, qualified for inclusion, which accounts for the omission of such poets as Shakespeare, Shelley and Stevens, who meet the first criterion but not the last. While excerpting may have been necessary in the case of long poems, the reader might have preferred to see the poem as a whole and the context of the author's scriptural allusions. This first volume covers the Book of Genesis to Malachi. The intent has been to rescue a neglected tradition, but Atwan and Wieder also provide a new perspective by linking poets as different as John Ashbery and Lord Byron--thrown together by their interest in Job. (May)