john donne – Houghton STAR

By Anna Catherman ('24)

Dr. Jesse Sharpe has had a fruitful year of teaching, researching, and speaking. Over the past few months, he spoke at conferences in Philadelphia, and Baton Rouge, La.

“It’s been a particularly busy scholarly semester,” Sharpe noted.

In early February, Sharpe had the opportunity to attend the John Donne Society convention. He spent a weekend with friends from across the world. The agenda includes both lectures and ample time to catch up.

“Nobody sleeps for three days,” Sharpe claimed.

This year’s trip was especially eventful as it overlapped with the Super Bowl and Mardi Gras. They held an impromptu party for the big game. Then the Louisiana State University campus lost power for five hours on Mardi Gras. While the lights were out, they all gathered in a hotel suite and talked until the issue was resolved.

The society recently finished a variorum of Donne’s work, a collection of every manuscript of every poem. It was a massive undertaking; there are more copies of Donne’s work than any other in the time period.

Back in January, Sharpe presented on Donne’s Devotions at the Modern Language Association national convention in Philadelphia. And at the end of February, he spent his Spring Break in England conducting research.

In the classroom, Sharpe has been teaching two classes, Critical Evaluations of Literature and Contemporary World Literature, that he hasn’t taught since 2020. He also has two sections of Humanities 201.

In Contemporary World Literature, Sharpe tried something new: exclusively reading authors outside North America and Europe. This class’s conversations have been exceptional, and he really enjoys them. His favorite part of being a professor is “just being in a classroom and having discussions.”

Sharpe’s home life has been busy as well. His sons are filling out a flurry of college applications, and he’s planning to spend the summer with them before they leave home. And the family cat, Nougat, has been doing her role in keeping life exciting.

Nougat recently got out of quarantine after eating a bat. The New York Department of Health ordered her isolation since her rabies vaccine had just expired. She ate the bat on a Sunday, and on Wednesday her next shot was scheduled.

She emerged from six months in the basement the same cat she was before. And Sharpe took her to get her rabies shot.

“It’s nice to know there’s not rabies in the house,” Sharpe laughed, adding “[n]ow she can eat all the bats she wants.” ★

If you are anything like me, you looked forward to Christmas break largely due to the plethora of time simply spent sitting at home in uninterrupted silence with a book. Once break finally arrived, you had time to read and linger over the author’s words without feeling the pressure of assignments and other obligations clouding your thoughts.

Now, break is over and the time to read for pleasure has diminished greatly. The booklist you have added to over break may now sit unattended for months. However, I urge you to find and make time for yourself. Solitary time to reflect is essential to every individual. Though if you think that you don’t have the time, I suggest not only reading a novel, but also begin having a daily dose of poetry intermingled with other activities to ensure even on busy days you allow for at least a few minutes of reflection.

Recently, I have become fond of a contemporary American poet, Denise Levertov. In particular, Levertov’s collection, Evening Train, is dear to me. Through her poetry Levertov describes faith as elusive and often discusses the tension of her relationship with the divine. In her iconic poem, “Suspended” she writes, “I had grasped God’s garment in the void/ but my hand slipped/ on the rich silk of it.” Though unable to tangibly sense her faith or feel security she concludes this poem stating, “For though I claw at empty air and feel nothing, no embrace,/ I have not plummeted.” Unsure of God’s presence she still feels some comfort there, perhaps dormant, but still there.

Faith is a prominent theme for Levertov. Her sublime mountain imagery becomes a common archetypal device for expression of faith. In her poem, “Witness” Levertov writes, “Sometimes the mountain/ is hidden from me in veils/ of cloud,” but then states, “Sometimes I am hidden from the mountain.” Her experience with God is a reciprocal relationship: with the disappearance of the mountain she loses the desire to search. With the disappearance of her faith she loses the desire to seek God’s presence.

In her poem, “Elusive” she writes, “The mountain comes and goes/ on the horizon/ a rhythm elusive as that of a sea-wave.” God, like a mountain, escapes her view. Yet, Levertov emphasizes the fickle elusiveness, because that is the inherent nature of faith. Faith is not a tangible experience. It is an intimate relationship that would not exist if we possessed factual knowledge from which deductive reasoning would ensue.

Levertov treasures faith as a personal and fragile necessity that humanity must pass down from generation to generation. For this reason, her poetry is steeped in contemplation of the divine. In this post-modern age where academics are plagued with doubts and questions of faith Levertov offers comfort. Comfort which you, like me, may deeply appreciate.

Having shared a poet dear to me I encourage you now to find a poet that you can relate to and revisit their words daily. Then read another poet, and another. Let their words wash over you like the ocean’s daily tide.

And if you will indulge me for one last short paragraph, I offer a quick list of some more favorites you may wish to explore. Classics such as John Donne, William Wordsworth, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Henry David Thoreau, and Rainer Maria Rilke come to mind as well as many moderns such as William Stafford, Wallace Stevens, Franz Wright, and recent American Poet Laureate Billy Collins who wrote a book, Poetry 180, designed to make poetry more accessible to high school students. And if you are new at this ‘poetry business’ I suggest Collins’ “How to Read Poetry” for starters. As Collins writes, be mindful not to,“begin beating it [the poem] with a hose/ to find out what it really means.” So give poetry a try and you may find that a poem a day keeps the stress away.