In her prolific work as a scholar and essayist-laying the "laborious foundations," as she called it-Kathleen Raine spent little effort elucidating her meaning as a poet; but it becomes evident to any attentive reader that these labors give a resonant indication of the premises and values that inform her craft-on which, as a poet, she proceeded and wished finally to be judged. If there is to be a worthy-if belated-critical assessment of Kathleen Raine's poetry, it must of necessity proceed on the basis of an appropriate understanding: especially in this case seeing that this is a poetry that rests upon premises far removed from the sort of values that, for the most part, are likely to preoccupy both the writer and reader of contemporary poetry. For this reason the reader will find in this book very little attempt to "judge" and every effort to elucidate. This collection of studies by the eminent perennialist author Brian Keeble, a long-time friend, colleague, and editor of the poet, is a series of regards, each having a focal point that differs from its neighbors, but which nonetheless is directed towards the same subject-the poet's singular imaginative vision. Considered together, the reader will find in this book a reliably authentic foundation on which to build an appreciation of Kathleen Raine's poetic accomplishment.
In her prolific work as a scholar and essayist-laying the "laborious foundations," as she called it-Kathleen Raine spent little effort elucidating her meaning as a poet; but it becomes evident to any attentive reader that these labors give a resonant indication of the premises and values that inform her craft-on which, as a poet, she proceeded and wished finally to be judged. If there is to be a worthy-if belated-critical assessment of Kathleen Raine's poetry, it must of necessity proceed on the basis of an appropriate understanding: especially in this case seeing that this is a poetry that rests upon premises far removed from the sort of values that, for the most part, are likely to preoccupy both the writer and reader of contemporary poetry. For this reason the reader will find in this book very little attempt to "judge" and every effort to elucidate. This collection of studies by the eminent perennialist author Brian Keeble, a long-time friend, colleague, and editor of the poet, is a series of regards, each having a focal point that differs from its neighbors, but which nonetheless is directed towards the same subject-the poet's singular imaginative vision. Considered together, the reader will find in this book a reliably authentic foundation on which to build an appreciation of Kathleen Raine's poetic accomplishment.
Über den Autor
BRIAN KEEBLE is the author of Daily Bread: Art and Work in the Reign of Quantity (2015); God and Work (2009); Art: For Whom and for What? (1998), and other essay collections as well as several collections of poetry, most recently Mask after Mask (2017). He has edited three volumes of Kathleen Raine's essays-The Inner Journey of the Poet and Other Papers (1982), The Underlying Order and Other Essays (2008), and That Wondrous Pattern: Essays on Poetry and Poets (2017)-and also edited her Collected Poems (2000). As the editor, designer, and publisher of Golgonooza Press in Ipswich, England, from 1974 to 2004, he published numerous volumes of writings related to the arts and the perennial philosophy, by authors such as Wendell Berry, Eric Gill, Seyyed Hossein Nasr, and Philip Sherrard. Keeble was one of the founders of the journal Temenos (London, 1980-1991), and is a fellow and former Council and Academic Board member of the Temenos Academy.
