British Poets and Secret Societies (Routledge Revivals)

British Poets and Secret Societies (Routledge Revivals)
Author :
Publisher : Routledge
Total Pages : 202
Release :
ISBN-10 : 9781317634904
ISBN-13 : 131763490X
Rating : 4/5 (04 Downloads)

Book Synopsis British Poets and Secret Societies (Routledge Revivals) by : Marie Mulvey-Roberts

Download or read book British Poets and Secret Societies (Routledge Revivals) written by Marie Mulvey-Roberts and published by Routledge. This book was released on 2014-08-01 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A surprisingly large number of English poets have either belonged to a secret society, or been strongly influenced by its tenets. One of the best known examples is Christopher Smart’s membership of the Freemasons, and the resulting influence of Masonic doctrines on A Song to David. However, many other poets have belonged to, or been influenced by not only the Freemasons, but the Rosicrucians, Gormogons and Hell-Fire Clubs. First published in 1986, this study concentrates on five major examples: Smart, Burns, William Blake, William Butler Yeats and Rudyard Kipling, as well as a number of other poets. Marie Roberts questions why so many poets have been powerfully attracted to the secret societies, and considers the effectiveness of poetry as a medium for conveying secret emblems and ritual. She shows how some poets believed that poetry would prove a hidden symbolic language in which to reveal great truths. The beliefs of these poets are as diverse as their practice, and this book sheds fascinating light on several major writers.


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