Selected Poems

by Kathleen Raine

Poems from 1943- to the present day, Kathleen Raine's pared down style is filled with deeply elemental, powerful imagery, in her unmistakeably female voice.

Genres: Poetry

157 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1988

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

[Abigail · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some very beautiful and some repetitious. Favourites: 'The Hollow Hill' and 'Descent into Hades'.

[Susie]

Confessions is my favourite Kathleen Raine poem: these are the first two stanzas


Wanting to know all
I overlooked each particle
Containing the whole
Unknowable.

Intent on one great love, perfect,
Requited and for ever,
I missed love's everywhere
Small presence, thousand-guised.

It captures the haunting qualities of Raine's poetry. She also captures places with the same nuanced imagery.

[Steve · Rating 3 out of 5]

Seems like I've read the same half dozen or so poems over and over again. Depending on the mood, they can be beautiful or boring. Pretty mystical stuff, but so mystical I have real trouble finding something distinctive about individual poems.

[Hskoppek · Rating 5 out of 5]

good selection of poems to get acquainted with Kathleene Raine's work