Poetry treated in a religious spirit

There is an excellent article by Michael Symmons Roberts in today's Times on the poetry of John Berryman.

The article concludes:

"T. S. Eliot warned against a religious poetry that “leaves out what men and women consider their major passions, and thereby confesses to an ignorance of them”, but argued instead for “the whole subject of poetry” to be treated in “a religious spirit”.

For Berryman, the “whole subject” included radioactivity, chicken paprika, mistresses, Lana Turner, Kleenex and the pearly gates. Is it possible to write religious poetry that communicates widely in an increasingly secular language? Berryman’s Dream Songs say yes."

I concur wholeheartedly!

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James Macmillan - Veni Veni Emmanuel: II. Heartbeats.