What is the Darkling Psalter?
The Darkling Psalter is a project to create renditions of the Psalms (artistic rewordings based in the original Hebrew), notes, commentary, and original poems to pair with each one.
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Any work of sufficient length is only sustained contact with by those who benefit from it. Every new subscription is a message that says: “Keep working. Keep working.”
Rare is the artist who can dream up a work in their head only and carry it to competition—even Tolkien needed to tell his children about Bilbo at bedtime before he found his inklings. An idea can be a fragile thing and 150 poems and translations is a big idea. I meant the project to be ambitious though and, if it is ever complete, it will be the work of years.
I know the only way I’m ever going to finish this project is if I know people read, value, and support it. Whether you subscribe or not, if you like a poem or find a rendition of a Psalm helpful, drop me a line or leave a comment and let me know.
The Translations
In the translations, or "renditions," I am bringing out things that are really there in the original Hebrew, but that have been lost in the modern translations. I am also highlighting connections between the Psalms and other parts of the Bible. Sometimes, I'm aligning the Psalm to the poem that it is paired with (or vice versa).
I am calling them "renditions" because they are not strict translations—there are plenty of other sources for that. With this project, I am attempting something more poetical, while still remaining true to the sense of the Psalms in the original Hebrew.
The Poems
The work of translation is very poetically productive. Each poem will be paired with (and in dialogue with) a Psalm.
Sometimes the poems will draw out hidden themes in the Psalms (Psalm 22). Sometimes they will highlight and wrestle with difficult parts of the Psalms (Psalm 137). Sometimes they will highlight and expand the core messages of the Psalms (Psalm 19). Either way, the poems are meant to be a companion work to the Psalms—I mean for each of them to deepen the other.
The Notes
Each post includes notes on both the Psalm and the poem. For the Psalms, there are so many intricacies and hidden beautiful bits to each Psalm that anytime I think something needs to be brought to the surface or further illuminated, I'll explain what is going on in the Psalm in a note. For instance, I'll answer questions like "What do the 'bulls of Bashan' in Psalm 22 have to do with the Nephilim of Genesis 6?" or "Where do you find the Tree of Life in Psalm 1?" or "Why are there three tiers of Heaven in Psalm 8?"
For the poems, I find it helpful when I know a bit about the context of a poem, so when I think there is something worth mentioning in the poems, I'll note that too.
Read the index of poems and translations here.
Cheers,
Andy
