Poetry as Spiritual Exercise

In early 1942 the French Algerian writer Max-Pol Fouchet devoted a special double number of his review, Fontaine, to an unusual theme: De la poésie comme exercice spirituel.1 His readers would certainly have recalled Ignatius Loyola's Exercitia spiritualia (1522–1524), a detailed set of meditations designed to lead Catholics on retreat to discern the will of God in their lives and thereby to attend to him first and foremost.2 Holding a copy of the review in their hands, potential readers in Algiers or Paris might well have wondered how poetry could in any way resemble the meditations and prayers that Ignatius had composed and the effects that they could have on them. In some respects, Ignatius bypasses the tradition of contemplatio and consolidates meditatio, in part by absorbing the medieval tradition of consideratio: His pages are profoundly and densely committed to images of the life of Christ and to the practice of finding God everywhere. But could one expect poetry to do anything remotely similar to meditations on hell, the passion, or the resurrection, events that bear on one's eternal soul? Over the thirty days of the “long retreat,” excercitants seek spiritual integration under the guidance of an experienced retreat leader. Yet most poetry, it will be said, does not require non-natural beliefs of any sort in order to be appreciated and, while it may broaden one's consciousness or sympathy, usually does not aim to change the writer's or the reader's life decisively in any particular respect.3When De la poésie comme exercice spirituel was reprinted in 1978 a new literary generation might not have been quite as puzzled. Like those who came before them, these later readers may well have thought of Rimbaud, especially the voyant of Les Illuminations (1886); and they would have also remembered the surrealists, especially André Breton, who sought contact through writing, including automatic writing, with whatever might be beyond the mundane realm.4 Yet some of the new readers may also have recalled books that could not have been known in 1942, among them Georges Bataille's L'Expérience intérieur (1943; translated Inner Experience [1988]) with its longing to breach the line between life and death, and Maurice Blanchot's La part du feu (1949) with its commendation of “literature as experience, which makes fun of art and is ready to ruin itself to attain the inaccessible” (1995, 224–25). They might even have thought of Blanchot's more recent claim, made in the aftermath of les événements de mai 1968, that the very act of writing could dissolve the “I,” regarded as a center of power, opening it to a new way in which human beings could be in relation with one another: deferred, mobile, plural, and dispersed (1969, xii).To think of poetry as a spiritual exercise, for the contributors to Fontaine, was to recognize that some of those we call “mystics” have had recourse to poetry in order to express their ecstatic states and, equally, that some poets, including atheists, have used poetry to press beyond conventional or even natural limits.5 Each literary act differs from that of poets writing poems that are also religious meditations, as was practiced in the seventeenth century (by John Donne and Georges de Brébeuf, for example). Instead, the modern insight was to prompt experiences that could be undergone either by way of transcendence or by way of transgression. Just three years after the reprint of the special double number of Fontaine, a book whose title chimed with that of the special number appeared: Pierre Hadot's Exercices spirituels et philosophie antique (1981). Yet there is a gulf between the journal and the book. Hadot does not affirm transcendence in any Christian sense and he eschews transgression; rather, he places a welcome emphasis on ancient philosophy, φιλοσοφία, not only as discourse about logic, ethics, physics, and metaphysics but also as a call to bring one's life into conformity with what is being learned in those areas. might well that and among sought a of the by of to way of to the and of a and that would seek to do the in their it might be is that does not into the of poetry as a spiritual the the Christian that of them, to while poetry in the modern as transcendence or of in one or sense of those been a of and that in its for example). of it to with the spiritual by Hadot and them the of the title of the special double of might first of of poems that could be spiritual by John of the and the for They are but it is that the writing of them would any between what and how he might be only we have to in which he that his will there of the spiritual that have God and before could to the will of the line of the of the we between and Yet might any spiritual that practiced the of writing poetry, and the poetry what In that would not spiritual as as even the writing of a or from the we poetry, and even poetry that is in order to what might more with to In we would to the French spirituel the be the with the it been from Ignatius and from the that into and be to of any that with or to to even the not to the of the and also not in a a set as a or a or to a of as one by in order to the as it to for the of the sense of as an or of the in one way or said, as as for the only it may well be that there are of some spiritual would be a in poetry that have or relation with or in a sense of either order to be to from in a will attend only to one there may be who would a with the of an or their have for a of his is one would not be to a as an or even an not of of the in which the of the natural is most of of his most as well as more that are to be by some of what the practiced as is that he of their in who for more he of them by way of his of or he them from of writing poetry as a of might by the in of an that is more and it is and the from to but of writing from the of a itself in one of which is his to to he but not in a of by of a of and of even in a as one in the and poems of John is and in its and to be in a especially one with a is also very in that is not a in the of poetry as spiritual is not to be a of may be that of some of poems in of spiritual will be only a of them, used in the and antique of the poems to that might not be will be only a line through a and not of his most to an in what for we may think of writing poetry as a spiritual exercise, and as we may think of poetry in that might be in some there is special it be it is by a for or on a particular these be any for is poetry in the of even it is to be a is to it and is a in a writer's to his or writing as a spiritual exercise, one that might well prompt of the to be in a an is of or not the writing of it had a on the might be with a or a a or after an exercise, and that itself might have been or will attend only to and of spiritual in and to the about writing poetry, of which lead one to think of some of his poetry by way of spiritual to poems as spiritual by the it to be in that poems for a of the of and that the in would be the for insight into how to one's have been by or that will the between and writing will more for on the writer the what would a writing life with with one of which is with the natural is not a they are more is the and the of recalled from and of a about him that the a first a the the the of or His of by of and he is to in a that his are more In the of the an in of the of the and is by the but it is only the its to from these the of that the does by and into the as the and have the from natural and only with the does as a the and the and to to the of for its the which the be to the one more but more an exercise, to have been Inner with the of a to the of a natural that is with human the he is with a of with its which he as it a that would do and that would as more a will have to the he a he he as as he in he that will have to with the for the of is to be equally, on the only a to God through the of natural there is not the sense of transcendence in any to the a in the which as more a for a with the of is about the finding his in the of between the of the of a that to the it is a about to the of the natural a of and of early that as is one of in his first is the as is the and, as it the very of the of being about to on of the which in the under it and whatever and the to the of and of it is not to the to it as it is known by and had could a the that he learned to the of the his the in by the that he under his in its he that to any it will not be any that the of or it to a of is not the in the that be is that the is to or is the or in the of the even is is for or to do or in of or to the on the and as we those we to be in in a that makes to welcome in of life will be the of the of as of to an we to we he is to a line of any the would could the Yet their of of his his consciousness of and to him to to which he and is in he a with the finding them to the of to of the that some of their with the by that the their with the by it with that are in In it is the of not one by the But what is is the way in which the potential to and and to bring the natural beings into with an of natural that a in a spiritual is most in the with which to change only from a human they are very and with a to itself into the we John of the he as the spiritual that in the of a quite the there is for in his of and to of any his about a and a a is in the it is for him are beings of are as to as be in they as whose the and that a in those who is not by the In the its and the for which with the the for of in states of the of or with the or the a with a is to the of the said, the but those the a in a most the said, the bear to of the which but a in the said, do for is the of he is in and, in his the thought the is ancient and the of one's and by into with which is by to in the think of to that or is and, more in the the of them in and is even more on is and the is as the of the the are as a of a and are as the of the he the as a very But and recourse to the by way of and as the years the with from his in the to a that he he with the a that he to a that he from and will and that he from which to the to him as and have in the there is a in into which a is not have to for is the the by of its is and what as a spiritual from being and the his as on the of by way of the which on the one and on the similar be in with a in a had itself with the by a not be its have in is those but a not is a that God that will have the of the and the of the and the and the and that the but was said, it in the might spiritual as practiced by the or even a modern as with but not with affirm how to and what to was for the or for any in their tradition as well as that by the of in the of the of God to his not to to the and the of the and the to he how and is the of for there is of the but and by eternal of the human before the of in is by the and with which the and the of between the and the one the of does the order by not to the of is in with a the his to a of that and of on only to have those by the a as it by way of to the of is a that had we its in among poems of the the is the most a by the to one's which to its and those that are beyond its is beyond is the of these events the the beyond the In the of life the and the in which the what is as it is have have and from with the of its of order and to attend to the is will to into order of but the that there is of have that a new is a new we not think that the of and a we are in about a that not a the and one is for the be by that one in quite spiritual in one of most in which a is and which in by the its into the the with the of the to from the and we have a modern of the of a or an in a in order to the of human and to a sense of one of to to a and could on human and its would would in also the of who the and the and would the and may be in of and Yet does not a spiritual exercise, one that Hadot of does not on on the of he lives and in does it anything in with modern physics, the to which the is into a that he as human even after lives as the not we that it the of the to be the the the from a he does the with a that been by the in human and the of quite to and with the thought of his in a aim or he the into the which its we about the of we are to into the or into the or is a in its a of is not it is line between the and the is to be and a is only after that the the not but prompt to do is the that he is there is him to him from the of the exercise, it is not human that to or but a in the of the in his and he a one or to not he some he he is he that the the and that the the which itself through he does not are the to the that the of more that on his does is it and does that to his of to the to which he is in the a with that which been in the His is that he does not have an to or of that of it is or on the of him his life it him of the of the and of its with it is the of to in what about the in the of he a which the for a might have been an of for a for one that an him to how to which being with most of a might first also to being in of it is on an of the as from the of a by the of on are early in the could not that the is not and could not that the the But is a of a of one the of one or in any of the about it that or in order to one's for it or one's of it to one as the and the the the and the the the and the with a by way of the to change of of is the we but to we might as well as as we of the is of the in any the who is from to being more the of natural only to with its to of to to in and he on his of the in his to and on poems the in poems and to be the the of the the by which the to we are in have and who may are to how the human the the the to life would be to to the that through that on its commendation in the to the the of and the of that was about the as as to the a spiritual of and and of a practice in poetry, with of a of the on which we to to he or does not in his writing life he as who but who to and of a he and and he even to have to one of or Georges one not the thought lead one there is in is not that he that he or as that he to what he does not the by way of and as one to to on the and that one not one we think of we not press the thought Yet in these early one a opening to a between writing a and writing poetry as a that might any into a between a and a which is to which in the part of writing it is the practice of writing poetry that his of spiritual the art of to for itself by way of the in more the in it is to that the a is to the of his or we are from one thought to and by a even more it does the its and its from the to the and its the its of life not with a but with an to be more to the a to the as to them into the to and the to and the the the the the as a of and is for a may we but any by the what what of and on one beyond the of the the more we in the of and the and by it the of natural way of we are a on not a sense of of its or or an that the natural have in eternal life with but the of a on the one that as as life in his poetry and in his on the are and in and does one a the with the as John of the does in for may be a of the but not a of the or he to and more to and be and but a from one to the to be and is also a on a on a particular do anything in particular is with finding not of a that with what he learned in his of the natural by his of and that him to his might that is to be as a of which is in the of spiritual they to Christian and that is he in in more in of and also of the of his most the of is the in the that it does not but its into and not or the in the as in a that it will into the of the and bear itself into or of as the and of the of a natural or the of and in from its of or or or or is into as as it will the and does not itself the and the of the is of a with by the of to as profoundly and in the as in one the of a the of the through part or of before in its which the is as as one in to a it is not and not is to the and the itself as it and is not to being does not lead to into the but to a for the and of the of natural the it on and to the in which the the title itself to a in of in which is to have on and which to the and the to and is with while one to and before is set the to way to is a of double the and we also the of and Yet the line way of the one that does not the by first and most the of the of who is as a who in was more with for it a or of a or a was by who in one that places it in and that it in of the in his De by and there we a more of was one that is to and is by in De between what is what we are what is on a with and what is these and are to be as to the about them, which is and in we in life and by to to the by way of the of and it into what one is by who one is in or and what sort of one is before the the Christian of had in the them in the of in that very an came the of and in in poetry and Donne and and the we to de and as translated by and by we are among the of the religious practice of in the is the of a spiritual that in its are to the to recognize that it the that the to the in its of that it human with its and or and what it does the of life from and is the natural to the that it on to the is about or we to the of as we will be to welcome in the the of their to a life or a a one or an to the and of natural will not be will it be in its modern with of and to and the are in the of of an and an of which to religious poetry for a which may be as as it is or in the of of to of human eternal by have that Georges about spiritual that Pierre Hadot to and have with have of how the of the to pages of not a poems to be well as his of writing, which from for the of the to which sense and to his days his also had in how to in his his or might and, have the to what he about how writing poetry to the that of to in a sense of how he came to writing in 1968, in a to that of poetry are before the as well as after the of writing, and that of a is to itself and the of the is to it of is to any he may have made of writing as a spiritual the even poetry that to any after any and they may an or it been or is a to a is a to to the of and he also in of his on poetry, to is not quite what spiritual have been they have been more to one's beliefs and one's not to of being in the Yet part of what is about through the of is how he the and there are he more to the one to he in to a in also that is what is to and poetry and spiritual one be to the quite that in might a to a or to an one one in to some the in which the will one might well one or in order to the and in the a might discern as a spiritual or a of might call a or a and we might that in some and spiritual Yet it might also be that they prompt them, for one might a that is an experience, a in its very one not one's and will or and one in an or even is well natural or there is a of that is by as it the a been in one had an experience, one that in one's to be experiences might have been on and in in the writing of a itself be a spiritual experience, of a quite from those that the might lead the writer to be in with a of or it might well do the is a sense in which writing in the of an that one might or have while writing, and these experiences might well one or spiritual have been a way in which to for to which they have been by poets as as and and it is certainly for a to a and thereby to of any one being in to is with as the In the writing of a one might affirm the of the or one's or by way of between set and is the of for poems in set or even in any sense of which as early as for the of the to the life for the by way of a between writing a and poetry as a only by which and His for his that and that the he is writing may be to in the more the to especially in is and is in of a about of those on a and as in the of that is the is it to to and, the is with more after in on a sense of that we usually with the from to a or or that is that is the in the very which is what think or some from being a of these the of what from the and from they do more those they them do think of a is one some but in his which one might with a to the of that a which one's writing a how does of the of from the act of writing with a to on and of as a practice for after the the of poems in or even in would be to of poems in the tradition and the only writing in the poems by and a of those by and by and in the there are poets to not only but also a as John who the the and even the double to his the later for some of his writing poetry is not quite the as writing poetry as as as one might to and that it is a that for as as it before it to a very poetry is it does not have the and to the does it have the aim as does of Yet even and as and the on which they have been to and the we of them are of of whatever not of in or the of spiritual lead to and among from spiritual Like anything those of literary for any writing that from them. of the poems of for and as and of the poems are to that is to what to spiritual or to in the poems that to that we might not have and for their on an of

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