Canon Mark Oakley and poet Michael Symmons Roberts spoke at Theos on 5th October 2017 about religious poetry in a secular age.

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If we live in a secular age, you wouldn’t know it from our poetry. Not only are some of the greatest poets of recent years overtly Christian, such as Geoffrey Hill and Les Murray, but many who are not remain drawn to and fascinated by “the soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage”.  

On 5th October 2017, Michael Robert Symmons and Mark Oakley spoke at Theos about poetry and faith in a secular age.

Michael Symmons Roberts is one of the leading English poets writing today, his work having won the Forward Prize, the Costa Poetry Prize and the Whitbread Poetry Award, and having been shortlisted for the T.S. Eliot Prize.

Mark Oakley is Canon Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral, and one of the most perceptive critics writing today on the relationship between theology and literature.

Drawing on their most recent publications – Mancunia is published in August, The Splash of Words: Believing in poetry in 2016 – Michael and Mark explored the power of poetry to challenge and reframe our earthly and eternal vision.