John Laurence Rentoul

John Laurence Rentoul Poems

John Laurence Rentoul Biography

ohn Laurence Rentoul (6 July 1846 - 15 April 1926), was a member of the Presbyterian clergy and a poet. Rentoul was ordained a minister of the Presbyterian Church of England in 1872[ and became incumbent of St George's Church, Southport, Lancashire. While at Southport, Rentoul married Annie Isobel, daughter of D. T. Rattray on 30 October 1878. The wealthy congregation of St George's Church, St Kilda, Victoria, Australia had been seeking a minister from the British Isles and Rentoul was nominated by London preacher Oswald Dykes. Rentoul and his wife arrived in Australia in 1879. Five years later Rentoul was appointed professor in the theological hall, Ormond College (University of Melbourne), his subjects being Hebrew and Old Testament Criticism, New Testament Greek, and Christian Philosophy. In 1884 Rentoul was given the degree of Doctor of Divinity by the Theological Faculty of Ireland. At Ormond College, Rentoul had a great influence over many generations of candidates for the Presbyterian ministry, and was a conspicuous figure in all the counsels of his church. He showed great ability in conducting religious controversies, for which he was equipped with wide reading and knowledge of the languages of the original texts. He stated once that he never entered on a fight willingly, but once the contest had started he fought with great vigor and, many of his friends thought, with a full appreciation of the joy of combat. It was not for nothing that he was popularly known as "Fighting Larry"; but he had no ill-will to his opponents and never bore rancor. He was made moderator-general of his church for 1912-14, and when the World War I broke out was appointed chaplain-general of the Australian Imperial Force. Rentoul's last years were clouded by the long illness of his wife following an accident, and the nervous breakdown of his younger son Ormond, a youth of extraordinary promise, while studying for his examinations. Rentoul died suddenly on 15 April 1926 leaving a widow, two sons and two daughters and was buried in St Kilda cemetery. Rentoul was the author of From Far Lands; Poems of North and South (1914) and At Vancouver's Well and Other Poems of South and North (1917). His poetry has been praised, a good example of it is "Australia" which was included in The Oxford Book of Australasian Verse. In prose Rentoul published in 1896, The Early Church and the Roman Claims, which ran into six editions. He also wrote The Church at Home; Prayers for Australian Households, and several pamphlets. Rentoul was somewhat frail-looking but was in reality strong and active, showing much endurance during his yearly trout-fishing holidays in New Zealand. He was interested in the Australian Aborigines and all oppressed people, and incurred some odium by taking up the cause of the Boers at the time of the Second Boer War. Rentoul was a fine scholar, learning all his life, and his erudition, keen wit, versatility, strength of conviction, and scorn of compromise, made him a remarkable preacher and lecturer. As a debater he had great readiness in retort, and in developing his argument his words flowed with an almost volcanic passion. In private life he was courteous, kindly and generous. His elder daughter, Annie Rattray Rentoul, wrote verse with some ability. A list of volumes of her songs which were set to music will be found in Percival Serle's A Bibliography of Australasian Poetry and Verse. The younger daughter, Ida Sherbourne, afterwards Mrs Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, became well-known as an illustrator of fairy tales.)

The Best Poem Of John Laurence Rentoul

Australia

SHE rose amid the Nations, tall and fair,
The wide South seas kissed at her garment hem,
Lights of new heavens gleamed in her lustrous hair,
Freedom her diadem!

And on her bosom, Time’s glad prophecy,
Six stars that into one rich radiance ran,
Her Urim and her Thummim of the free
Young Commonwealth of Man:

And in her raiment, curiously inwrought,
Opal and sapphire, gems of price untold,
Pearl from far wave, and, through deep mine-shaft sought,
The shimmering glow of gold:

And magic colours blent of range and dell
And pasture where the sportive lambs may bleat,
And subtlest tints—no poet’s tongue can tell—
From sun-kissed fields of wheat.

Too confident of beauty to be proud,
Too satisfied and young to doubt or pray,
Her open glance and buoyant will unbowed
Fronted the broadening day.

Her face uplifted and her brave bold eyes
Gazed on into the future unafraid,—
No mystic depths of reverence, awe, surprise,
No Past to make dismayed!

No martyr-moan from pyre or battle-plain
Had seamed that beauty, frank and debonair,
No sobbings from Gethsemanes of pain,
No midnights of despair—

Changed into morns of triumph, when the day
Saw men like gods, but featured homelier far,
As, in the pass, by mazed Thermopylae
Or glorious Trafalgar.

And, all-accustomed to her wide-wayed sea
And amplest spaces and unhindered room,
She faltered not to meet her destiny
Nor reck’d of gathering Doom.

But at her girdle hung an opening scroll,
On whose white virgin folds might yet be writ
Tales of high deeds, transcending utmost goal
Of Man’s prophetic wit.

And at her feet the Ocean yearned away
To East and North, and Southward without bound,
And Westward where the sequent Night and Day
Circled the great world round.

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