Mysticism in Literature offers a fresh perspective to poetry, relating and balancing the western and eastern approaches. The book specifically looks at the mystical poetry of two British poets, Coventry Patmore and Francis Thompson, through new doors of perception. There are perceptive discriminations made between immanent and transcendental experience, between ‘purgative’ and ‘illuminative’ stages of the Mystic way, and all these subtle distinctions have been illustrated from individual works of the two poets. A special strength of this book is its use of the stylistic approach to bring to light aspects of the delicate relationship between mystical experience and its articulation through literary language.
The analysis of Patmore’s poetry in the specific context of the combination of the erotic with the divine is an important part of the study. The discussion of the transcendental and the immanent aspects of mysticism and their impact on Patmore and Thompson is a very refreshing part of this book. The book contains six chapters along with Conclusion, Bibliography, and Index at the end. Chapters included in this book are The Mystical Tradition and British Poetry, Poetic Affinity, Imagery and Symbolism, The Mystic Way, Towards “The Kingdom of God”, and Language and Style. The book also has the privilege to have a literary foreword by Ronald Tamplin, the Senior Lecturer at the University of Exeter, United Kingdom.
Prof. A.N. Dhar holds a doctorate in English Literature and Diploma in English Studies from the Central Institute of English and Foreign Languages, Hyderabad. He is a distinguished scholar of English and a seasoned teacher, having taught at M.A.M. College, Jammu for about a decade and at the University of Kashmir for about two decades starting from 1970. A former Head of the Department of English and Director, ELT Centre, University of Kashmir, on his retirement from the service, Prof. Dhar was awarded a 2-year U.G.C. Emeritus Fellowship in English which he held at the University of Jammu from October 1990 to September 1992. Later, he was awarded a Senior Fellowship in Literature by the Department of Culture, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Government of India for another two years from October 1997 to September 1999. In 1984, he was also awarded a Visitorship by the British Council for academic visit to several British Universities.
Prof. Dhar has his research interests in the areas of 19th century British poetry, mystical and comparative literature, and stylistics and literary translation.
