Home > Work > The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux
1 " Thus the ordinary, uncontrolled chattering we call “prose” changes its nature, like coal becoming incandescent. Poetry resembles music. "
― Thérèse de Lisieux , The Poetry of Saint Therese of Lisieux
2 " Translating poetry means taking a risk. The poetry of St. Thérèse, so simple, fresh, and pure, is particularly challenging to render into another language. "
3 " The one, more Latin, more Roman, closer to eloquence than to the literal word, aims at a certain effect, at magic. The other, more Greek, more Hellenistic, seeks transparency flowing from the source. "
4 " If we examine the poems of Thérèse of Lisieux at all, they reveal themselves richer than we first thought. And this is the problem with her poetry: We have to go beyond the simple style, which is naturally and deliberately artless—as is fitting for a “Carmelite poem”—to discover the treasures it conceals. "
5 " For Thérèse, poetry was not “art for amusement,” because she did not write for her own satisfaction but out of duty, or at least with a concern to serve, to help, and to encourage.6 "
