British Poets and Secret Societies (Routledge Revivals)

<p>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 <i>A Song to David</i>. 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.</p><p>The beliefs of these poets are as diverse as their practice and this book sheds fascinating light on several major writers. </p>