The Revd Dr Malcolm Guite is Chaplain of Girton College Cambridge, and a scholar of poetry as well as being a renowned poet himself.

Advent is the season when we prepare ourselves for the coming of Christ at Christmas – a season for slowing down and reflecting on the great spiritual themes of light and dark, life and death. But while all around us the world speeds up in preChristmas rush, it can be difficult to find a place for stillness and contemplation. Malcolm Guite suggests one way is to read a poem each day, and in his new book Waiting on the Word (Canterbury 2015), he chooses a favourite poem from across the Christian spiritual and English literary traditions for every day in Advent and Christmas, and offers a seasonal reflection on it.