Bret van den Brink
@bretvdb.bsky.social
“the only just literary critic is Christ” | University of Toronto MA Candidate | poet and lover of poetry from Spenser and Milton to Frost and Stevens
“In that same way that, upon earth, [Christ] was in solidarity with the living, so, in the tomb, he is in solidarity with the dead.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
April 19, 2025 at 3:05 PM
“In that same way that, upon earth, [Christ] was in solidarity with the living, so, in the tomb, he is in solidarity with the dead.”
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
—Hans Urs von Balthasar, Mysterium Paschale
“The whole world order—and within it the whole of aesthetics depends on the inextricable linkage of Christ and Mary: on the interweaving, by grace, of the human act of assent into the redeemer's own act of assent, which is one with the assent of the love of the Trinity.”
HUvB
HUvB
January 2, 2025 at 6:01 AM
“The whole world order—and within it the whole of aesthetics depends on the inextricable linkage of Christ and Mary: on the interweaving, by grace, of the human act of assent into the redeemer's own act of assent, which is one with the assent of the love of the Trinity.”
HUvB
HUvB
“Where absolute love is concerned, conceiving and letting-be are just as essential as giving. In fact, without this receptive letting be and all it involves— gratitude for the gift of oneself and a turning in love toward the Giver—the giving itself is impossible.”
November 25, 2024 at 12:39 PM
“Where absolute love is concerned, conceiving and letting-be are just as essential as giving. In fact, without this receptive letting be and all it involves— gratitude for the gift of oneself and a turning in love toward the Giver—the giving itself is impossible.”
“Mortals that would follow me,
Love vertue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime
Higher then the Spheary chime;
Or if Vertue feeble were,
Heav'n it self would stoop to her.”
Love vertue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime
Higher then the Spheary chime;
Or if Vertue feeble were,
Heav'n it self would stoop to her.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:16 AM
“Mortals that would follow me,
Love vertue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime
Higher then the Spheary chime;
Or if Vertue feeble were,
Heav'n it self would stoop to her.”
Love vertue, she alone is free,
She can teach ye how to clime
Higher then the Spheary chime;
Or if Vertue feeble were,
Heav'n it self would stoop to her.”
“Sabrina fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honours sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.”
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honours sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:15 AM
“Sabrina fair
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honours sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.”
Listen where thou art sitting
Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave,
In twisted braids of Lillies knitting
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,
Listen for dear honours sake,
Goddess of the silver lake,
Listen and save.”
“What, have you let the false enchanter scape?
O ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand
And bound him fast; without his rod revers't,
And backward mutters of dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixt and motionless.”
O ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand
And bound him fast; without his rod revers't,
And backward mutters of dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixt and motionless.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:15 AM
“What, have you let the false enchanter scape?
O ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand
And bound him fast; without his rod revers't,
And backward mutters of dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixt and motionless.”
O ye mistook, ye should have snatcht his wand
And bound him fast; without his rod revers't,
And backward mutters of dissevering power,
We cannot free the Lady that sits here
In stony fetters fixt and motionless.”
“Fool do not boast,
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my minde
With all thy charms, although this corporal rinde
Thou haste immanacl'd, while Heav'n sees good.”
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my minde
With all thy charms, although this corporal rinde
Thou haste immanacl'd, while Heav'n sees good.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:14 AM
“Fool do not boast,
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my minde
With all thy charms, although this corporal rinde
Thou haste immanacl'd, while Heav'n sees good.”
Thou canst not touch the freedom of my minde
With all thy charms, although this corporal rinde
Thou haste immanacl'd, while Heav'n sees good.”
“Within the navil of this hideous Wood,
Immur'd in cypress shades a Sorcerer dwels
Of Bacchus, and of Circe born, great Comus,
Deep skill'd in all his mothers witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer,
By sly enticement gives his banefull cup,
With many murmurs mixt.”
Immur'd in cypress shades a Sorcerer dwels
Of Bacchus, and of Circe born, great Comus,
Deep skill'd in all his mothers witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer,
By sly enticement gives his banefull cup,
With many murmurs mixt.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:14 AM
“Within the navil of this hideous Wood,
Immur'd in cypress shades a Sorcerer dwels
Of Bacchus, and of Circe born, great Comus,
Deep skill'd in all his mothers witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer,
By sly enticement gives his banefull cup,
With many murmurs mixt.”
Immur'd in cypress shades a Sorcerer dwels
Of Bacchus, and of Circe born, great Comus,
Deep skill'd in all his mothers witcheries,
And here to every thirsty wanderer,
By sly enticement gives his banefull cup,
With many murmurs mixt.”
“I saw them under a green mantling vine
That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots,
Their port was more then human, as they stood;
I took it for a faëry vision
Of som gay creatures…
That in the colours of the Rainbow live.”
That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots,
Their port was more then human, as they stood;
I took it for a faëry vision
Of som gay creatures…
That in the colours of the Rainbow live.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:13 AM
“I saw them under a green mantling vine
That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots,
Their port was more then human, as they stood;
I took it for a faëry vision
Of som gay creatures…
That in the colours of the Rainbow live.”
That crawls along the side of yon small hill,
Plucking ripe clusters from the tender shoots,
Their port was more then human, as they stood;
I took it for a faëry vision
Of som gay creatures…
That in the colours of the Rainbow live.”
“Shepherd I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesie,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoaky rafters, then in tapstry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam'd,
And yet is most pretended.”
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesie,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoaky rafters, then in tapstry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam'd,
And yet is most pretended.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:13 AM
“Shepherd I take thy word,
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesie,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoaky rafters, then in tapstry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam'd,
And yet is most pretended.”
And trust thy honest offer'd courtesie,
Which oft is sooner found in lowly sheds
With smoaky rafters, then in tapstry Halls
And Courts of Princes, where it first was nam'd,
And yet is most pretended.”
“We that are of purer fire
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchfull Sphears,
Lead in swift round the Months and Years.”
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchfull Sphears,
Lead in swift round the Months and Years.”
November 23, 2024 at 1:12 AM
“We that are of purer fire
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchfull Sphears,
Lead in swift round the Months and Years.”
Imitate the Starry Quire,
Who in their nightly watchfull Sphears,
Lead in swift round the Months and Years.”
Emily Dickinson on the
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
November 21, 2024 at 11:46 PM
Emily Dickinson on the
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Transcendentals Beauty, Truth, and One:
Love a catchy title.
November 21, 2024 at 4:30 PM
Love a catchy title.
November 21, 2024 at 4:04 PM
“The words were spoken as if there was no book.”
—Wallace Stevens
—Wallace Stevens
November 18, 2024 at 1:49 PM
“The words were spoken as if there was no book.”
—Wallace Stevens
—Wallace Stevens
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
—John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
—John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”
November 11, 2024 at 2:41 PM
“Take up our quarrel with the foe:
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
—John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”
To you from failing hands we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.”
—John McCrae, “In Flanders Fields”
#HansUrsvonBalthasar on #Origen ‘s spiritual vision:
October 21, 2024 at 1:09 AM
#HansUrsvonBalthasar on #Origen ‘s spiritual vision:
A beautiful passage from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Prayer:
October 20, 2024 at 4:21 AM
A beautiful passage from Hans Urs von Balthasar’s Prayer:
