Poets and the Religious Imagination

Module title	Poets and the Religious Imagination
Module code	THEM014
Academic year	2025/6
Credits	15
Module staff	Professor Brandon Gallaher (Convenor) Professor Christopher Southgate (Convenor)

Duration: Term	1	2	3
Duration: Weeks	11

Number students taking module (anticipated)	10

Module description

This module will enable you to explore the interaction of spirituality and poetry in a selection of modern authors in English (or in English translation). It requires no specialist background knowledge, only a keen interest in poetic texts and a willingness to explore the influences that led to their composition and final form. The module is highly suitable for interdisciplinary work, especially by theology students with an interest in literature, or students of English, Modern Languages and History with a curiosity about spirituality.

Module aims - intentions of the module

The module aims to provide a general introduction to the role of theology and spirituality in modern poetry. You will be introduced to the biography, historical context and spiritual journey of a number of poets constituting the main focus of the module. You will undertake close readings of selected poems, in conjunction with biographical studies and the latest criticism (often drawing on interdisciplinary resources), in order to explore the theology and spirituality that informed the poems’ composition and the ways in which the poems themselves function as theological and spiritual resources.

Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs)

ILO: Module-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

1. Give a sophisticated account of the background to the texts in focus.
2. Interpret creatively inferences about theology and spirituality arising out of a biographically-informed reading of the set texts.

ILO: Discipline-specific skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

3. Provide nuanced and sophisticated readings of selected texts.
4. Formulate critical and creative accounts of the theology and spirituality underlying the background to the texts.

ILO: Personal and key skills

On successfully completing the module you will be able to...

5. Formulate a learning plan including critical evaluation and creative proposals.
6. Research secondary sources making judicious use of on-line material.
7. Present interim conclusions and discuss them with others with openness and respect.

Syllabus plan

Whilst the specific content may vary from year to year, it is envisioned that it will cover some or all of the following topics:

Background to the interaction between theology, spirituality, and poetry.
Background to the biography, historical context and spirituality, as well as close readings of selected poems by the following authors: Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-89), William Butler Yeats (1865-1939), T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) and Kathleen Raine (1908-2003).
Theological and spiritual motifs underlying the poems of the authors listed above, or others.
Critical comparisons between the poets and creative responses to their work.

Learning activities and teaching methods (given in hours of study time)

Scheduled Learning and Teaching Activities	Guided independent study	Placement / study abroad
25	125	0

Details of learning activities and teaching methods

Category	Hours of study time	Description
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	22	11 x 2-hour seminars with input and discussion
Scheduled learning and teaching activities	3	Individual support to plan your essay, presentation, and your own writing
Guided independent study	125	Research. Preparation, and completion of assessments.

Formative assessment

Form of assessment	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Presentation of a reading of one of the set texts	10 minutes	2-7	Written (via email)

Summative assessment (% of credit)

Coursework	Written exams	Practical exams
100	0	0

Details of summative assessment

Form of assessment	% of credit	Size of the assessment (eg length / duration)	ILOs assessed	Feedback method
Essay relating a text to theological themes	75	3000 words	1-4, 6	Oral and written
Review of a different text	25	1000 words	2-4, 6	Oral and written

Details of re-assessment (where required by referral or deferral)

Original form of assessment	Form of re-assessment	ILOs re-assessed	Timescale for re-assessment
Essay (3000 words)	Essay (3000 words)	1-4, 6	Referral/deferral period
Review (1000 words)	Review (1000 words)	2-4, 6	Referral / Deferral period

Re-assessment notes

Deferral – if you miss an assessment for certificated reasons judged acceptable by the Mitigation Committee, you will normally be either deferred in the assessment or an extension may be granted. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of deferral will not be capped and will be treated as it would be if it were your first attempt at the assessment.

Referral – if you have failed the module overall (i.e. a final overall module mark of less than 50%) you will be required to submit a further assessment as necessary. The mark given for a re-assessment taken as a result of referral will be capped at 50%.

Indicative learning resources - Basic reading

Daiches, David., God and the Poets: 1983 Gifford Lectures (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1984)
Fiddes, Paul., Freedom and Limit: A Dialogue Between Literature and Christian Doctrine (Macon: Mercer University Press, 1999).
Frye, Northrop., The Educated Imagination (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1964).
Harries, Richard., Hearing God in Poetry: Fifty Poems for Lent and Easter (London: SPCK, 2021).
Harries, Richard., Art and the Beauty of God: A Christian Understanding (London/NY: Continuum, 1993).
Hass, Andrew, David Jasper and Elizabeth Jay (eds.)., The Oxford Handbook of English Literature and Theology (Oxford: OUP, 2009)
Jasper, David., Heaven in Ordinary: Poetry and Religion in a Secular Age (Cambridge: Lutterworth Press, 2018).
Knox, Francesca Bugliani, and David Lonsdale (eds.)., Poetry and the Religious Imagination: The Power of the Word (London: Routledge, 2016).
Oakley, Mark., The Splash of Words: Believing in Poetry (Norwich: Canterbury Press, 2016).
Raine, Kathleen., The Inner Journey of the Poet, and Other Papers, Brian Keeble (ed.)(London: George Allen and Unwin).

Indicative learning resources - Other resources

Gerard Manley Hopkins:

McKenzie, Norman (ed.)., The Poetical Works of Gerard Manley Hopkins (Oxford: OUP, 1990)
Mariani, Paul, Gerard Manley Hopkins: A Life (London: Viking, 2009)

W. B. Yeats:

Finneran, Richard J. (ed.), The Collected Poems of W. B. Yeats: Revised Second Edition (London: Palgrave Macmillan, 1991)
Archibald, Douglas., and William O'Donnell, The Collected Works of W. B. Yeats Vol. III Autobiographies (New York: Scribner and Co., 1993).
Ellmann, Richard., Yeats: The Man and the Masks, 2^nd Ed.(Oxford: OUP, 1979).

T. S. Eliot:

Ricks, Christopher and McCue, Jim (eds)., The Poems of T.S. Eliot, Volume I (London: Faber and Faber, 2015)
Gordon, Lyndall., The Hyacinth Girl (London: Virago, 2022)

Kathleen Raine

The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine (London: Faber & Faber, 2019).
Raine, Kathleen., Autobiographies: Farewell Happy Fields, Land Unknown and Lion's Mouth (London: Skoob Seriph, 1991).
Philippa Bernard, No End to Snowdrops: A Biography of Kathleen Raine (London: Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd., 2009).

Key words search

Religion, poetry, theology, imagination, poets, English, myth, God, symbol

Credit value	15
Module ECTS	7.5
Module pre-requisites	None
Module co-requisites	None
NQF level (module)	7
Available as distance learning?	No
Origin date	07/11/2024
Last revision date	14/02/2025