Metamodern Spirituality in Antjie Krog’s “oh Fragile Earth … a Mass for the New Dispensation” (from Pillage , 2022)
Critical Arts July 2, 2026 Janien Linde
Antjie Krog's poem sequence 'oh fragile earth … a mass for the new dispensation,' from her volume Pillage, adapts the Christian Roman Catholic mass to create a space for ecological mourning, celebration, and metamodern spiritual reimagining. The poems lament human destruction of the planet and warn of impending devastation, while articulating a fragile hope grounded in interconnection with all life. The analysis identifies four characteristics of metamodern spirituality in the work: simultaneous belief and scepticism; reappropriation of religious language for a fluid, posthuman, post-secular experience; critical engagement with ecological devastation alongside wonder and hope; and balancing activist urgency with poetic humility. The author argues that Krog's mass proposes a metamodern soteriology where the earth is both a site of salvation and destruction.