David's Crown by Malcolm Guite (Book Review)

At the end of 2024, I scrolled through my Goodreads account and made note of the five best books I’d ready over the course of the year. I read 76 books last year, and Malcolm Guite’s David’s Crown: Sounding the Psalms made it into the top 5.

It’s a corona of poems, 150 linked poems that correspond to each of the 150 psalms. Ever since I’ve finished it, I’ve continued reading it. I’ve begun reading it through alongside the book of Psalms, but I haven’t limited myself to that. I’ve been dipping in and out of it, seeking comfort, reminders, wisdom, beauty.  I’m jumping at shadows because I’m reading an unnerving fantasy book in the middle of the night? I’ll read my Bible for a bit and then open David’s Crown.

My commonplace book has half a dozen quotes from David’s Crown. I’m tempted to put in more, but thus far I’ve kept it to the handful that struck me hardest on my first read-through. Let me share a few of them with you.

You are my heart’s desire from first to last

Like as the hart desires the water brooks

So longs my soul towards you. So I thirst

For living streams, not for the dusty books

They write about you, nor the empty words

That ring from pulpits, nor the haughty looks

Of those who market you. These are the shards

Of broken idols.

I turn to you

Because you know my heart better than I,

The darkness there was never dark to you.

We dance

To tunes the world has never heard, for you

Put heaven’s music in our hearts.

These are only fragments, but in these fragments I glimpse the power of the whole. I love this book—and Guite’s poetry in general—not only because he uses rhythm and rhyme and through it shows me new ways of writing and appreciating poetry, but truly mostly because of the power in the words. Guite’s poetry is a reminder that the true strength of poetry lies in the meaning, however beautiful may be the words themselves.

That’s what I want to focus on here. I’ve talked a lot about rhyme and rhythm, and Guite has taught me more about that. I aspire to such mastery of poetry. But the deepest beauty of David’s Crown lies in Guite’s heart for the Lord. I talk about art as a high calling, a gift of God, an imprint of His image in us, and Guite’s poetry is a reminder of how God intends us to use that gift. We were created to create that we might glorify Him and reflect the beauty of our Creator.

Thank you for your words and for the reminder, Mr. Guite.