i think the distinction over religious-spiritual writers is this: are they
trying to preach at us, set themselves up as priests (not necessarily the
same as actually being a priest, as R.S.Thomas usually does but doesn't
always write from a priest-position) and try to make us unhappy, diminish
our life-force, or are they writers becoming-all sorts of other things, in
enormous variety, so e.g. Fanny Howe never becomes-priest, and David Jones
is (as drew milne says) interested in the material history of Catholicism,
and other poets strongly associated with a faith also give us their best
work in this latter mode -
really it's not a special case for religious poets at all, i don't think, as
other poets can take up the same position, a teacher position, and try to
make us unhappy, proclaim a lack
Edmund
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