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Dylan Thomas : The Country of the Spirit / Rushworth M. Kidder.

By: Material type: TextTextSeries: Princeton Legacy Library ; 1543Publisher: Princeton, NJ : Princeton University Press, [2015]Copyright date: ©1973Description: 1 online resource (248 p.)Content type:
Media type:
Carrier type:
ISBN:
  • 9780691619033
  • 9781400869794
Subject(s): DDC classification:
  • 821/.9/12
LOC classification:
  • PR6039.H52 -- K533 1973eb
Other classification:
  • online - DeGruyter
Online resources: Available additional physical forms:
  • Issued also in print.
Contents:
Frontmatter -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- PART ONE: The Mazes of His Praise -- Chapter I. Religious Poetry -- Chapter II. Ambiguity and Religion -- PART TWO: The Three-Pointed Star -- Chapter III. Three Types of Religious Imagery -- Chapter IV. Referential Imagery -- Chapter V: Allusive Imagery -- Chapter VI. Thematic Imagery -- PART THREE: The Parables of Sun Light -- Chapter VII. 18 Poems -- Chapter VIII. Twenty-Five Poems -- Chapter IX. The Map of Love -- Chapter X. Deaths and Entrances -- Chapter XI. In Country Sleep -- Chapter XII. "The Prayer's End": A Conclusion -- Appendix: The Tendency Toward Ambiguity in Thomas' Revisions -- Works Cited -- Index
Summary: Since the Bible appears so frequently in Dylan Thomas' work, some critics have decided that he must be a religious poet. Others, noting blasphemous statements and certain irreligious aspects of Thomas' personal life, contend that he was no such thing. Rushworth M. Kidder, investigating this problem, looks below the surface of the obviously religious imagery and discovers a more profound poetry.The first part of this book discusses the nature of religious poetry and the application of that term to Thomas' work; it then develops the necessary background based on his letters and prose comments to provide a foundation for the study; and finally it examines the relationship between the religious aspects of his poetry and his well-known ambiguity. The author re-defines the vocabulary for dealing with religious imagery by establishing three distinct categories of imagery: referential, allusive, and thematic. This original technique is used to examine critically Thomas' poems to show the development of his religious and poetic thought. There are numerous close, sensitive readings of individual poems to show how his poetry, like the Bible, teaches by parable, speaking deliberate ambiguity rather than simple dogma. This strategy inspired poetry that is technically complex but thematically simple, a mode of verse that became more explicitly religious in the poet's final years.Originally published in 1973.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.
Holdings
Item type Current library Call number URL Status Notes Barcode
eBook eBook Biblioteca "Angelicum" Pont. Univ. S.Tommaso d'Aquino Nuvola online online - DeGruyter (Browse shelf(Opens below)) Online access Not for loan (Accesso limitato) Accesso per gli utenti autorizzati / Access for authorized users (dgr)9781400869794

Frontmatter -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Contents -- PART ONE: The Mazes of His Praise -- Chapter I. Religious Poetry -- Chapter II. Ambiguity and Religion -- PART TWO: The Three-Pointed Star -- Chapter III. Three Types of Religious Imagery -- Chapter IV. Referential Imagery -- Chapter V: Allusive Imagery -- Chapter VI. Thematic Imagery -- PART THREE: The Parables of Sun Light -- Chapter VII. 18 Poems -- Chapter VIII. Twenty-Five Poems -- Chapter IX. The Map of Love -- Chapter X. Deaths and Entrances -- Chapter XI. In Country Sleep -- Chapter XII. "The Prayer's End": A Conclusion -- Appendix: The Tendency Toward Ambiguity in Thomas' Revisions -- Works Cited -- Index

restricted access online access with authorization star

http://purl.org/coar/access_right/c_16ec

Since the Bible appears so frequently in Dylan Thomas' work, some critics have decided that he must be a religious poet. Others, noting blasphemous statements and certain irreligious aspects of Thomas' personal life, contend that he was no such thing. Rushworth M. Kidder, investigating this problem, looks below the surface of the obviously religious imagery and discovers a more profound poetry.The first part of this book discusses the nature of religious poetry and the application of that term to Thomas' work; it then develops the necessary background based on his letters and prose comments to provide a foundation for the study; and finally it examines the relationship between the religious aspects of his poetry and his well-known ambiguity. The author re-defines the vocabulary for dealing with religious imagery by establishing three distinct categories of imagery: referential, allusive, and thematic. This original technique is used to examine critically Thomas' poems to show the development of his religious and poetic thought. There are numerous close, sensitive readings of individual poems to show how his poetry, like the Bible, teaches by parable, speaking deliberate ambiguity rather than simple dogma. This strategy inspired poetry that is technically complex but thematically simple, a mode of verse that became more explicitly religious in the poet's final years.Originally published in 1973.The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Issued also in print.

Mode of access: Internet via World Wide Web.

In English.

Description based on online resource; title from PDF title page (publisher's Web site, viewed 30. Aug 2021)