NPM 2017 Day Two: "A List of Praises," Anaphora

My book spine poem for NPM 2017:

She walks in beauty

A jar of tiny stars

Awakening the heart

Open the door

House of light 

Pass the poetry, please!

I know that the day is almost done, but this afternoon I went in search of a praise poem to share on this Sabbath evening.  I discovered Anne Porter's poem, "A List of Praises," and a new-to-me poetic term, anaphora.  Here's the definition of anaphora from The Academy of American Poets site.  

"Anaphora - The term “anaphora” comes from the Greek for “a carrying up or back," and refers to a type of parallelism created when successive phrases or lines begin with the same words, often resembling a litany. The repetition can be as simple as a single word or as long as an entire phrase. As one of the world’s oldest poetic techniques, anaphora is used in much of the world’s religious and devotional poetry, including numerous Biblical Psalms."

Here's a favorite stanza from "A List of Praises" by Anne Porter:

"Give praise with the sound of the milk-train far away
With its mutter of wheels and long-drawn-out sweet whistle
As it speeds through the fields of sleep at three in the morning,
Give praise with the immense and peaceful sigh
Of the wind in the pinewoods, 
At night give praise with starry silences."

And if you'd like to read the entire poem, you can access it here.