Lions, Harts, Leaping Does (Magill’s Survey of American Literature, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: J. F. Powers
- First Published: 1943
- Type of Work: Short story
- Genres: Short fiction, Allegory, Didactic literature
- Subjects: Sin or Original sin, Religion, God, Death or dying
- Locales: North (U.S.)
The setting for “Lions, Harts, Leaping Does” is a Franciscan monastery during a bleak, snowy winter. Father Didymus, an aged priest, is being read to by his friend, Brother Titus, a simple, holy, and rather forgetful old man. As this elegaic story opens, Titus reads from Bishop Bale's critical Lives of the Popes, which reminds Didymus of the foibles of even great church leaders.
As the two friars go for a walk in the cold snow, Didymus meditates upon his own spiritual lapses. He is especially distressed with his decision not to visit his ninety-two-year-old brother,...
[The entire page is 661 words long]
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