No more profound and intimate expression of America’s spiritual life can be found than the work of its poets. From Anne Bradstreet to the Beats, from Native American chant and Shaker hymnody to Walt Whitman and Emily Dickinson, religion and spirituality have always been central to American poetry. In this unique anthology, world-renowned scholar Harold Bloom weaves a tapestry from the many strands of American religious experience and practice: the searching meditations of Puritan pioneers, the evangelical fervor of the Great Awakenings, the mystical currents of Transcendentalism, the diverse influences of the world religions that have taken root in modern America.

Spanning four centuries and more than 200 poets, American Religious Poems is a bountiful and moving gathering of voices that offers countless moments of inspiration, solace, meditation, and transcendence. The poems in this unprecedented volume are a lasting testimony to the American spirit and its unremitting quest for ultimate truth and meaning.

This deluxe collector’s edition features:

• an introduction by Harold Bloom;
• a reader’s guide to significant topics and themes in the poems;
• Smyth-sewn binding and flexible, leatherette covers; and
• a ribbon page-marker.

Harold Bloom (1930–2019) was the author of more than forty books, including the New York Times bestsellers Shakespeare: The Invention of the Human; The Western Canon; and, most recently, Jesus and Yahweh: The Names Divine, and the recipient of numerous honors, including a MacArthur Fellowship and the Gold Medal for Belles Lettres and Criticism from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. He was Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University and a Charles Eliot Norton Professor at Harvard University. Jesse Zuba attended Princeton and Yale Universities. He teaches English at Rowan University and lives in Pitman, New Jersey.

This special publication features a custom-made slipcase, Smyth-sewn bindings, acid-free paper, and a unique design with specifications differing from those of Library of America series titles.

Project support for this volume was provided by: Lilly Endowment, Inc.