Carl Safford Patton

Carl Safford Patton, an American Congregational minister and religious writer, lived from 1866 to 1939. The Poetry of Common Life was published in Ann Arbor by James Foster in 1920. Its title essay argues that imagination and attention can disclose poetry within ordinary experience rather than only in distant or exceptional subjects. Companion pieces consider what people live for, the value of the present, and the ethical character of a gentleman. Patton's public ministry and lectures shaped a collection that joins literary observation to practical religious thought.