Carcanet Press - Church Chapel and the Unitarian Conspiracy

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'A gathered church.'

                That posy, the elect,
        Was gathered in, not into, garden-walls;
        For God must out of sheer caprice resect
        The jugular stalks of those He culls and calls.

        Watts thought his church, though scant of privilege,
        Walled in its own communion. In its walks
        Some may have doubted if so sparse a hedge
        Tempered the blast to blooms still on their stalks.

from 'Dissentient Voice: A Gathered Church'

Donald Davie has insisted -- even as he was writing about Modernism and Ezra Pound -- on an area of English literature, history and spirituality misread and misvalued in a secular age when the churches are themselves at pains to dilute or deny the conflicts, sermons, hymns and tracts which defined and energised their chapel lives. Davie neither dilutes nor denies: he reappraises with scholarly, searching love the elements from which his culture and imagination are shaped.

He edited the Oxford Book of Christian Verse and the Penguin Book of Psalms. This volume brings together his 1976 Clark Lectures (Cambridge), the 1980 Ward-Phillips Lectures (Notre Dame) and related material, illuminating the political and spiritual heritage of distinctively English Protestant traditions.

This volume completes Carcanet's programme of collecting the prose writings of Donald Davie.

Born in Barnsley in 1922, Donald Davie served in the Navy and studied at Cambridge, becoming Professor of English at Essex, and later at Stanford and Vanderbilt. In 1988 he returned to England where he died in 1995. Carcanet's uniform Collected Works of Donald Davie includes Collected Poems (1990), Under Briggflatts ... read more

Praise for Donald Davie 'From the publication of his debut collection of poems in 1955 until his passing in 1995, Donald Davie enjoyed a doubly excellent reputation as a critic and a poet... Sinéad Morrissey's Selected Poems gives an admirably rounded picture of his work and guides the reader through the editor's well-judged inclusions with a succinct introduction.'
N.S. Thompson, The TLS
'This is very unusual, essential and distinctive poetry of a kind we so often don't see. Davie had a well developed sense of his own outlook and it does come through in quite complex and multifaceted ways.'
Clark Allison, Stride Magazine
'This is a sampler of one of the major poets of the last generation that has been assembled by leaning into the proclivities of one of the major poets of our own... if you have read none of Davie's poetry before, you have a small, perfectly formed, ever-expanding universe to explore.'
Rory Waterman, The Friday Poem

'This is an accessible exploration of Davie's work. And it makes me want to read more, so this taster selection clearly works. It is an important reminder of the great writer he was, and how relevant he still is, nearly thirty years after his death. Morrissey's introduction is clear-eyed and intelligent, a perfect primer'
James Nash, Everybody's Reviewing
'He has drawn a map of modernism, starting with Hardy and Pound, that remains one of the definitive outlines of twentieth-century experiment in form and language. The mapmaker, in this case,is a notable locus on the map.'
Helen Vendler `These poems thrive on the restless energy that drives their author on from form to form and place to place. Few poets are more likely than Davie to persuade new readers that poetry can still be a matter of concern and pleasure.'
Martin Dodsworth, The Guardian 'In his criticism, he has drawn a map of modernism, starting with Hardy and Pound, that remains one of the definitive outlines of twentieth-century experiment in form and language.'
Helen Vendler

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Church Chapel and the Unitarian Conspiracy Donald Davie Imprint: Lives and Letters Publisher: Carcanet Press Available as: Description Excerpt Author Reviews 'A gathered church.' That posy, the elect, Was gathered in, not into, garden-walls; For God must out of sheer caprice resect The jugular stalks of those He culls and calls. Watts thought his church, though scant of privilege, Walled in its own communion. In its walks Some may have doubted if so sparse a hedge Tempered the blast to blooms still on their stalks. from 'Dissentient Voice: A Gathered Church' Donald Davie has insisted -- even as he was writing about Modernism and Ezra Pound -- on an area of English literature, history and spirituality misread and misvalued in a secular age when the churches are themselves at pains to dilute or deny the conflicts, sermons, hymns and tracts which defined and energised their chapel lives. Davie neither dilutes nor denies: he reappraises with scholarly, searching love the elements from which his culture and imagination are shaped. He edited the Oxford Book of Christian Verse and the Penguin Book of Psalms. This volume brings together his 1976 Clark Lectures (Cambridge), the 1980 Ward-Phillips Lectures (Notre Dame) and related material, illuminating the political and spiritual heritage of distinctively English Protestant traditions. This volume completes Carcanet's programme of collecting the prose writings of Donald Davie. Born in Barnsley in 1922, Donald Davie served in the Navy and studied at Cambridge, becoming Professor of English at Essex, and later at Stanford and Vanderbilt. In 1988 he returned to England where he died in 1995. Carcanet's uniform Collected Works of Donald Davie includes Collected Poems (1990), Under Briggflatts ... read more Praise for Donald Davie 'From the publication of his debut collection of poems in 1955 until his passing in 1995, Donald Davie enjoyed a doubly excellent reputation as a critic and a poet... Sinéad Morrissey's Selected Poems gives an admirably rounded picture of his work and guides the reader through the editor's well-judged inclusions with a succinct introduction.' N.S. Thompson, The TLS 'This is very unusual, essential and distinctive poetry of a kind we so often don't see. Davie had a well developed sense of his own outlook and it does come through in quite complex and multifaceted ways.' Clark Allison, Stride Magazine 'This is a sampler of one of the major poets of the last generation that has been assembled by leaning into the proclivities of one of the major poets of our own... if you have read none of Davie's poetry before, you have a small, perfectly formed, ever-expanding universe to explore.' Rory Waterman, The Friday Poem 'This is an accessible exploration of Davie's work. And it makes me want to read more, so this taster selection clearly works. It is an important reminder of the great writer he was, and how relevant he still is, nearly thirty years after his death. Morrissey's introduction is clear-eyed and intelligent, a perfect primer' James Nash, Everybody's Reviewing 'He has drawn a map of modernism, starting with Hardy and Pound, that remains one of the definitive outlines of twentieth-century experiment in form and language. The mapmaker, in this case,is a notable locus on the map.' Helen Vendler `These poems thrive on the restless energy that drives their author on from form to form and place to place. Few poets are more likely than Davie to persuade new readers that poetry can still be a matter of concern and pleasure.' Martin Dodsworth, The Guardian 'In his criticism, he has drawn a map of modernism, starting with Hardy and Pound, that remains one of the definitive outlines of twentieth-century experiment in form and language.' Helen Vendler	Share this... Quick Links Carcanet Poetry Carcanet Classics Carcanet Fiction Carcanet Film Lives and Letters PN Review Video Carcanet Celebrates 50 Years! The Carcanet Blog One Little Room: Peter McDonald read more Collected Poems: Mimi Khalvati read more Invisible Dog: Fabio Morbito, translated by Richard Gwyn read more Dante's Purgatorio: Philip Terry read more Billy 'Nibs' Buckshot: John Gallas read more Emotional Support Horse: Claudine Toutoungi read more
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