That Wondrous Pattern: Essays on Poetry and Poets

by Kathleen Raine, Brian Keeble (Editor)

Kathleen Raine was one of the greatest British poets of the last century. Born to a deeply literary and spiritual household, she went on to study at Cambridge, where she met Jacob Bronowski, William Empson, and Malcolm Lowry. A dedicated Neoplatonist, she studied and presented the works of Thomas Taylor and wrote seminal books on William Blake. With Keith Critchlow, Brian Keeble, and Philip Sherrard, she founded, in 1981, the Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, its journal Temenos, and, later, the Temenos Academy Review. HRH The Prince of Wales became the patron of the academy in 1997.


For our new selection, That Wondrous Pattern, Raine offers sixteen essays that range from “The Inner Journey of the Poet” and “What Is Man?” to essays on Blake, Wordsworth, Hopkins, Yeats, Eliot, and several others. The centerpiece, “What Is the Use of Poetry?,” is a rigorous defense of the great art. Editor Brian Keeble himself contributes a fascinating introduction to Raine’s work, and Wendell Berry, a colleague and friend of hers, offers a preface.


All who spend time in the presence of this wonderful writer will leave newly entranced with the art and use of the beautiful, convinced that “it is only in moments when we transcend ourselves that we can know anything of value.”

Genres: Poetry, Essays

384 pages, Hardcover

Published April 18, 2017

About the author

Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE was an English poet, critic and scholar, writing in particular on William Blake, W.B. Yeats and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of spirituality, most prominently Platonism and Neoplatonism, she was a founding member of the Temenos Academy.

Reviews

[Wim · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gained some great insights thanks to these essays which are not just wondrous but also wonderful.

Kathleen Raines doesn't only write great poetry but is also a specialist on Blake and Yeats. Discovering this writer was a great experience for me and I will look forward to her book on Blake.

A thread throughout the whole book is the link to Plato. The importance of the journey of the Soul, the contrast of the world of ideas with the material world, the intuition versus rational approach are central in these essays.

Towards the end of the book there is a lot of repetition of the same themes. In the last part of the book, there is a separate essay per poet with the same underlying pattern. So it becomes a bit tedious.

Also the essay on Yeats was for me very difficult as I am not familiar with Yeats so I couldn't get all the meanings of the symbols used

So as a conclusion I give it a 4* for the interesting ideas which are treated and 3* to the structure of the book.

[Gord Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very wonderful book. I think it has probably been one of the greatest books of learning over the years. I digested it quite slowly allowing for time to absorb the wisdom of the poets and Kathleen Raines herself in her insights and contemplation of them. She presents and ties in biographical information with the poets spiritual and philosophical orientation in such a skillful way.

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

A valuable contribution to the conversation between you and the poets and authors of the past. If you don't indulge in the convo you don't need to read this book; if you DO indulge, I think you need to read this. A meditation on philosophy, art and the society that enables or blocks the eternal urges.