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Every Changing Shape, published in 1961 and now in paperback for the first
time, considers from a Christian poet's perspective how religious or
mystical experience informs the imagination. Elizabeth Jennings wrote the
book early in her career; it continues to provide crucial readings of her
chosen authors and clues to her own poetry.
She avoids terms like 'inspiration', 'ecstasy', sticking to
particulars -- words, meanings -- rather than ideology or theory. A
collection of studies of writers and mystics past and present, it brings
literary judgment to bear on a subject neglected in a secular age. Though
her first concern is poetry, she draws on prose writers to effect her
penetrating explorations.
Praise for Elizabeth Jennings:'[A] fine poet who ... manages to build the richest of poems from the barest of methods' - The Times, 14/12/75
'[A] subtle and remarkable poet ... how accomplished she is' - Alan Bramjohn, Encounter, Jan 1980
'the outstanding thing about Jennings's poetry is its wisdom, hard-earned from grief and religious faith' - Douglas Dunn, Glasgow Herald, 15/5/82
'in an era dominated by vacuous verbiage, such poetry as Elizabeth Jennings continues to produce is indeed a triumphant anomaly.' - David Gascoyne, The Tablet, 14/9/85
'She is one of the few living poets one could not do without.' - Peter Levi, The Spectator, 19/10/85
(on Collected Poems): 'it contains some of the finest lyric poetry of the 20th century' - Anne Stevenson, The Sunday Times, 14/9/86
'she has shown herself to be a poet who really has a personal vision along with the gift for making it immediate and shareable' - Kingsiey Amis, The Spectator, 6/12/86
'Elizabeth Jennings is a highly original and sensitive poet, greatly undervalued' - Robert Collie, Gay Times, Feb 1989
'in an agnostic age it is daring to write poems of religious rhapsody and more daring still to write as if the making of poems were a sacred activity.' - James Aitchison, Glasgow Herald, 7/5/89
'one of contemporary English poetry's major sublunary assets' - Will Eaves, The Times Literary Supplement, 15/1/93
'Her poetry ... conveys a strength of feeling and sincerity that few contemporary poets can match.' - Tom Velickovic, The Bookseller, 16/9/94
'a pleasure, as well as a poetic education, to read' - Gwyneth Lewis, Poetry Review, Volume 84 no 4, Winter 1994
'Elizabeth Jennings is a wonderful poet.' - Hugh Bredin, Fortnight
'she writes with a clear-eyed, simple tenderness which is never mawkish and reminds me of the great 17th-century poet, George Herbert' - Vernon Scannell, The Sunday Telegraph
'She's a major poet of our time' - Germaine Greer
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