{"id":5429,"date":"2022-04-04T11:10:23","date_gmt":"2022-04-04T11:10:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/?page_id=5429"},"modified":"2025-10-21T17:39:09","modified_gmt":"2025-10-21T17:39:09","slug":"the-oratory-of-light-by-james-harpur","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/?page_id=5429","title":{"rendered":"The Oratory of Light\u00a0 \u00a0 \u00a0by James Harpur"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"product-section\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-10 col pb-0 mb-0\">\n<div class=\"panel entry-content\">\n<p>I was honoured to be part of this special publication:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Here&#8217;s a special video presentation, read by James Harpur and featuring images by <strong>Paul \u00d3 Colm\u00e1in<\/strong> (with the invaluable assistance of <strong>Selene D&#8217;Alessandro<\/strong>)<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center; display: block;\"><iframe class='youtube-player' width='640' height='360' src='https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/OdJVZeQ4qN0?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;fs=1&#038;autohide=2&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;wmode=transparent' allowfullscreen='true' style='border:0;'><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>St Columba, or Columcille, and the island of Iona are the inspiration for <strong>James Harpur<\/strong> in this book of delicate lyric poems. Delving into the stories of the saint \u2013 including visions of angels, struggles with Picts, and various miracles \u2013 Harpur mingles his own poetic imagination with the spirit of Columba and the landscape of Iona: the result is poetry full of spiritual freedom and redolent of an age of wonder in which the natural world and the elements were perceived to be in harmony with the divine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>James Harpur<\/strong> has published seven books of poetry and won a number of awards, including the Michael Hartnett Poetry Prize and the UK National Poetry Competition. He is a member of Aosd\u00e1na, the Irish academy of the arts, and lives in the wilds of West Cork.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.jamesharpur.com\/\">www.jamesharpur.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"jetpack-slideshow-noscript robots-nocontent\">This slideshow requires JavaScript.<\/p><div id=\"gallery-5429-1-slideshow\" class=\"slideshow-window jetpack-slideshow slideshow-black\" data-trans=\"fade\" data-autostart=\"1\" data-gallery=\"[{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/paulocolmain.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/aa.wood-engraving-cover-image_opt-200x300.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;5431&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;wood engraving (cover) image&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Oratory of Light (wood engraving)&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/paulocolmain.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/Columcille-High-Cross-image_opt-163x300.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;5432&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Columcille High Cross Iona(ink)&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Columcille High Cross Iona(ink)&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;},{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https:\\\/\\\/paulocolmain.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2022\\\/04\\\/Oratory-of-Light-cover_opt-210x300.jpg&quot;,&quot;id&quot;:&quot;5433&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;Oratory-of-Light-cover_opt&quot;,&quot;alt&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;Cover, Oratory of Light&quot;,&quot;itemprop&quot;:&quot;image&quot;}]\" itemscope itemtype=\"https:\/\/schema.org\/ImageGallery\"><\/div>\n<p class=\"p1\">&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\"><i>A rich and rare approach to the mystical and the \u2018miraculous\u2019, the strange but real parts of a life that \ufb02oat between earth and heaven, mud and glory \u2026 Beautifully achieved with a subtle beauty, music and growing intensity that makes a fruitful vine of the whole.<span class=\"Apple-converted-space\">&nbsp; &nbsp;<\/span><\/i><br \/>\nJohn F. Deane<\/p>\n<p>The Oratory of Light&nbsp;<em>was written during the pandemic, when confinement led Harpur to recall his first visit to the island of Iona and the physical and spiritual freedom he found there. The poems riff on the life and work of the island\u2019s greatest alumnus Columba \u2013 Columcille in Irish \u2013 some placing the reader in the mind of the man himself, a contemporary or simply observed through Harpur\u2019s meditative poetic eye.<\/em><br \/>\n<em>He draws on the works of the seventh century cleric Adomnan, Columba\u2019s first biographer, the 16th century scholar Manus O\u2019Donnell and a series of Irish language verses, anonymous but often attributed to Columba&nbsp;himself to produce a deeply affecting collection even for a reader without religious faith. Harpur\u2019s work is universally human at heart.<br \/>\n<\/em><span class=\"s1\">Charlie Connelly, from a review in&nbsp;<i>The New European<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"p1\">Cover wood engraving and drawings by Paul \u00d3 Colm\u00e1in.&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.paulocolmain.com\/\">www.paulocolmain.com<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/issuu.com\/wildgoosepublications1\/docs\/the_oratory_of_light_-_sample\">See some sample pages from this book, hosted by external website issuu.com<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"product-section\">\n<div class=\"row\">\n<div class=\"large-2 col pb-0 mb-0\">&nbsp;<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I was honoured to be part of this special publication: Here&#8217;s a special video presentation, read by James Harpur and featuring images by Paul \u00d3 Colm\u00e1in (with the invaluable assistance of Selene D&#8217;Alessandro) St Columba, or Columcille, and the island &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/?page_id=5429\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":2313,"menu_order":22,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"spay_email":""},"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/P36zMW-1pz","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5429"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5429"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5463,"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/5429\/revisions\/5463"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/2313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paulocolmain.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}