CFP: The Power of the Word

I note an interesting conference in June next year on 'The Power of the Word: Poetry, Theology and Life' at Heythrop College, University of London. I'm thinking about offering a paper myself; deadline for abstracts is October 14th; details on the Institute of English Studies site.

Letters of T.S. Eliot

I note the recent appearance of the second volume in the correspondence of T.S. Eliot, covering the period 1923-25. Although Eliot was writing little new poetry in this period, there appears to be much there on more general questions of learned publishing, the circulation of ideas and Eliot's view of what The Criterion was to do. Several reviews have appeared, the most extended of which is by Stefan Collini in the Guardian. Collini has of course written on Eliot in his Absent Minds. Michael Wood in the LRB draws out some traces of Eliot's emerging religious thinking on the importance of suffering and sacrifice.

More on T. S. Eliot

I note the recent launch of a major new project, editing Eliot's prose and poetry, co-ordinated by the Institute of English Studies (University of London).

Andrew Motion on the Bible

Two recent things of note from Andrew Motion:

The first was a piece in the Guardian Education supplement, on the centrality of the Bible to understanding English literature. His comments, from a professed atheist, will set heads nodding among those who have tried to teach religious history, even in a university context.
It provoked a number of responses, including that of Andrew Brown, also in the Guardian.

The second thing was another Guardian piece, this time reflecting on the role of Poet Laureate, which Motion is about to relinquish after ten years.

Spender's Jewish roots

I note an interesting recent piece in the TLS (25th February) on the Jewish background to the work of Stephen Spender.

Pinter in Poets' Corner ?

I note a recent exchange, related to the suggestion (impossible by custom, as it turns out) that Harold Pinter be commemorated in Poet's Corner. The suggestion is made by the Conservative MP Ed Vaizey on his blog, and subsequently objected to, by at least one newspaper letter-writer, on grounds of Pinter's expressed views on Christianity. (Times 8/1/09)

The poetics of Nonconformity

I note a couple of recent items in connection with Tom Paulin, and the relationship between English Nonconformity and its poetic results. Paulin touches on it in a review of the recent edition of the letters of Ted Hughes, in which it is Hughes' religious background which allows him to write in a "spontaneous, direct, unforced and unflinching manner." See also a review of Paulin's own work in the Dublin Review of Books, and most recently, Terry Eagleton on Paulin, the "Puritan at play", and its political subtexts, in the Guardian Review.
I should be very interested to learn of any work that has tried to explore such a relation more generally, as I'm not aware of much to date. It could have interesting implications for thinking about religious poetry, but also more broadly about liturgical change and other religio-cultural issues. That a connection between background and poetic output can be made is evident from a recent article on George Barker.

See also an earlier post on William Empson.

Auden's religion

A couple of interesting recent items on Auden. The first is the Guardian's decision to ask Rowan Williams, a poet himself, to write a preface to the Auden booklet in their recent series. The second thing is the recent publication of the third volume of Edward Mendelson's edition of Auden's prose (1949-55), which covers some of the most interesting of Auden's theological writing. It was reviewed by Frank Kermode in the LRB (subscription needed for full article)