R.S. Thomas: Poet of the Hidden God

By D.Z. Phillips

Book Overview

This book is one philosopher's response to the poetry of R. S. Thomas. It examines the poet's struggle with the possibilities of sense in religion: R. S. Thomas has described his poetry as an obsession with the possibility of having 'conversations or linguistic confrontations with ultimate reality'. Some attempts at giving meaning to religious belief cannot withstand the assaults of criticism. In R. S. Thomas's verse, however, there emerges a hard-won celebration of the worship of a hidden God; a rare achievement in contemporary poetry. In plotting the course of the development of the poetry, the book brings out its many similarities with the thrusts and counter-thrusts of argument in the philosophy of religion in the second half of the twentieth century. The book should be of interest not only to admirers of R. S. Thomas, but to philosophers, theologians, students of literature, and to anyone concerned with questions concerning the sense or senselessness of religious belief.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0915138832
• ISBN13: 9780915138838
• Release Date: January 1986
• Publisher: Pickwick Publications
• Length: 204 Pages
• Weight: 0.75 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.6" x 6.1" x 7.9"

Customer Reviews

Hiding and Seeking

To understand Thomas' poetry we must first understand his theology. Phillips comes closer than most to succeeding in this task, as he points to the central importance for Thomas of waiting for God. God is, for Thomas, Deus absconditus - we see and know nothing of God except what God chooses to reveal in brief glimpses. This book was published in 1986, so is a bit dated; and, of course, has been overtaken to some extent by Thomas' last works. However,it remains a valuable contribution to the growing literature on the work of this great poet.