Four Birds of Noah's Ark: A Prayer Book from the Time of Shakespeare

I’m no great pray-er, and that’s one reason I value this beautiful book of poetic prayers, artfully re-presented by editor Robert Hudson.The prayer-poems within are works of Thomas Dekker, a contemporary of Shakespeare. If that intimidates you, don’t let it — these poetic prayers are immediate in their clarity, encouragement, and power.Here you’ll find more than 50 poems, including prayers “for One Who Is Sick,” “for a Midwife,” “for Sailors in a Storm at Sea,” “for the Universities.” Those are some of my favorites, but scarcely a page of my book is left unmarked by my highlights, noting nuggets of language I will treasure. One example:“the grave is a targetat which all arrows of our life are shotand the last arrow of all hits the mark.”If (like me) you feel you are no great pray-er, I think you will benefit from the artful prayers in this book.

Robert Hudson’s Four Birds of Noah’s Ark is a little gem! The introduction by itself is so interesting, informative, and well-written, it’s worth the cost of the book. As I grow older, I have found I appreciate written prayers more than ever. Bob Hudson has brought to life Thomas Dekker’s prayers which are surprisingly relevant for us today. The chapter on The Pelican brought tears to my eyes. I will be telling my friends about this book!

This book sparked my devotional life and reminded me that life is poetry. Dekker, modernized opened a whole new world to me.

Well written. Good old text.

Thomas Dekker (c.1572 -c.1632) is best remembered today as a playwright contemporary of Shakespeare’s. In response to the return of plague to London in 1608, and the closure of its playhouses and theatres, Shakespeare wrote the last of his sonnets and published them in 1609. In that same year Dekker published ‘Four Birds of Noah’s Ark’, a devotional work containing fifty-six prayers, which has been out of print since 1924, until now.Macaulay considered that Dekker’s prayers bore comparison with Milton’s sonnets and Swinburne wrote of the beauty of their “union of literary grace with ardent sincerity”. It is, indeed, impossible to deny the literary charm of these compositions, which represent a classic of devotional literature and Robert Hudson and his publisher are accordingly richly deserving of praise for making the present, handsomely produced, volume readily available.However, in addition to producing a very informative introduction, Hudson has seen fit to modernize Dekker’s language. According to the publisher this has been achieved “without sacrificing any of its beauty and simplicity” but I would beg to differ.You can appreciate the difference for yourself by comparing the following extracts.First, here is the opening of Dekker’s original Prayer for a Soldier Going into Battle:“Arm me (O thou God of battles) with courage this day that I may not fall before my enemies. The quarrel is thine; let the victory be thine; tie to my sinews the strength of David that I may with a pebble-stone strike to the earth these giants that fight against thy truth.”And here is the same passage as rendered by Hudson:“Arm me, O God of battles, with courage this day,that I may not fall before my enemies.The struggle is yours; let the victory be yours.Tie to my sinews the strength of David,that with a pebble-stone I may strike to the earththese giants who oppose truth.”These things are a matter of personal taste but for me, the original has the cadences of the King James Bible, whilst Hudson offers something akin to the Revised Standard Version, and for this reason, and this reason alone, I feel compelled to dock one star.

This is another quite different book I discovered through NetGalley; this time a prayer book written in direct response to the ongoing Black Death. Thomas Dekker was a man who wore many hats, among them playwright, but the theaters were closed due to the plague so he took to this project of writing prayers. Those that he created cover virtually all levels of humankind living within the City of London and how they might entreat their God.The language has been somewhat modernized for clarity and I found many of the prayers quite touching. Knowing that this was written over 400 years ago definitely adds a certain something too. There is a commonality among humans that does continue over generations. This is the first time the book has been brought back into print in almost 100 years.The four birds, as Dekker names them, are the Dove that ministers comfort, the Eagle that arms with courage (representing those in power--yes Royalty offers prayer to God), the Pelican that aides mankind in obtaining the health of salvation, and the Phoenix who offers prayers of thanks for what we receive. There is also a fifth section entitled Feathers comprised of short meditations from early church fathers, etc.Among my favorites are the prayers of sailors in a storm at sea, A Thanksgiving for Sailors' Safe Landing, A Prayer for a Midwife, A Thanksgiving After a Woman Delivers Her Child, A Prayer for One Who is Sick. There are also prayers for soldiers, sailors, prisoners of war, merchants, beggars, children, etc. And of course, A Prayer Offered by the Late Queen Elizabeth offering a regal sort of humility before God.For anyone who is interested in prayerbooks, I do recommend this new printing. It is written in very accessible language and does make one think about our union with those who lived before us.A copy of this book was provided by the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.