Kathleen Jessie Raine CBE (14 June 1908 – 6 July 2003) was a British

poet A poet is a person who studies and creates poetry. Poets may describe themselves as such or be described as such by others. A poet may simply be the creator ( thinker, songwriter, writer, or author) who creates (composes) poems (oral or w ...

critic A critic is a person who communicates an assessment and an opinion of various forms of creative works such as art, literature, music, cinema, theater, fashion, architecture, and food. Critics may also take as their subject social or gover ...

, and

scholar A scholar is a person who pursues academic and intellectual activities, particularly academics who apply their intellectualism into expertise in an area of study. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researche ...

, writing in particular on

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of t ...

W. B. Yeats William Butler Yeats (13 June 186528 January 1939) was an Irish poet, dramatist, writer and one of the foremost figures of 20th-century literature. He was a driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival and became a pillar of the Irish liter ...

and Thomas Taylor. Known for her interest in various forms of

spirituality The meaning of ''spirituality'' has developed and expanded over time, and various meanings can be found alongside each other. Traditionally, spirituality referred to a religious process of re-formation which "aims to recover the original shape ...

, most prominently

Platonism Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at l ...

and

Neoplatonism Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some ...

, she was a founding member of the Temenos Academy.

Life

Kathleen Raine was born in Ilford,

Essex Essex () is a Ceremonial counties of England, county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the Riv ...

, the only child of schoolmaster and Methodist lay preacher George Raine, from Wingate, County Durham, and Jessie (née Wilkie), a Scot who spoke Scots as her first language. The Raines had met as students at Armstrong College in

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne ( RP: , ), or simply Newcastle, is a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. The city is located on the River Tyne's northern bank and forms the largest part of the Tyneside built-up area. Newcastle is ...

. Raine spent part of World War I, 'a few short years', with her Aunty Peggy Black at the manse in Great Bavington,

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land ...

. She commented, "I loved everything about it." For her it was an idyllic world and is the declared foundation of all her poetry. Raine always remembered Northumberland as Eden: "In Northumberland I knew myself in my own place; and I never 'adjusted' myself to any other or forgot what I had so briefly but clearly seen and understood and experienced." This period is described in the first book of her autobiography, ''Farewell Happy Fields'' (1973).Couzyn, Jeni (1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 57 Raine noted that poetry was deeply ingrained in the daily lives of her maternal ancestors: "On my mother's side I inherited Scotland's songs and ballads…sung or recited by my mother, aunts and grandmothers, who had learnt it from their mothers and grandmothers… Poetry was the very essence of life." Raine heard and read the Bible daily at home and at school, coming to know much of it by heart. Her father was an English master at County High School in Ilford. He had studied the poetry of Wordsworth for his M.Litt. thesis and had a passion for

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

and Raine saw many Shakespearean plays as a child. From her father she gained a love of

etymology Etymology () The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) – p. 633 "Etymology /ˌɛtɪˈmɒlədʒi/ the study of the class in words and the way their meanings have changed throughout time". is the study of the history of the form of words ...

and the literary aspect of poetry, the counterpart to her immersion in the poetic oral traditions. She wrote that for her poetry was "not something invented but given…Brought up as I was in a household where poets were so regarded it naturally became my ambition to be a poet". She confided her ambition to her father who was sceptical of the plan. "To my father" she wrote "poets belonged to a higher world, to another plane; to say one wished to become a poet was to him something like saying one wished to write the fifth gospel".Couzyn, Jeni (1985) ''Contemporary Women Poets''. Bloodaxe, p. 58 Her mother encouraged Raine's poetry from infancy. Raine was educated at County High School, Ilford, and then read natural sciences, including botany and zoology, on an Exhibition at

Girton College, Cambridge Girton College is one of the 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1948, it was granted full college statu ...

, receiving her master's degree in 1929. While in Cambridge she met

Jacob Bronowski Jacob Bronowski (18 January 1908 – 22 August 1974) was a Polish-British mathematician and philosopher. He was known to friends and professional colleagues alike by the nickname Bruno. He is best known for developing a humanistic approach to sc ...

, William Empson,

Humphrey Jennings Frank Humphrey Sinkler Jennings (19 August 1907 – 24 September 1950) was an English documentary filmmaker and one of the founders of the Mass Observation organisation. Jennings was described by film critic and director Lindsay Anderson in 19 ...

and

Malcolm Lowry Clarence Malcolm Lowry (; 28 July 1909 – 26 June 1957) was an English poet and novelist who is best known for his 1947 novel ''Under the Volcano'', which was voted No. 11 in the Modern Library 100 Best Novels list.

. In later life she was a friend and colleague of the kabbalist author and teacher, Z'ev ben Shimon Halevi. Raine married

Hugh Sykes Davies Hugh Sykes Davies (17 August 1909 – 6 June 1984)Charles Madge and they had two children together, but their marriage also broke up as a result of Charles' affair with Inez Pearn, at that time married to the poet

Stephen Spender Sir Stephen Harold Spender (28 February 1909 – 16 July 1995) was an English poet, novelist and essayist whose work concentrated on themes of social injustice and the class struggle. He was appointed Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry by th ...

. She also held an unrequited passion for

Gavin Maxwell Gavin Maxwell FRSL FZS FRGS (15 July 19147 September 1969) was a British naturalist and author, best known for his non-fiction writing and his work with otters. He wrote the book ''Ring of Bright Water'' (1960) about how he brought an otter ba ...

. The title of Maxwell's most famous book '' Ring of Bright Water'', subsequently made into a film of the same name starring Bill Travers and

Virginia McKenna Dame Virginia Anne McKenna, (born 7 June 1931) is a British stage and screen actress, author and wildlife campaigner. She is best known for the films ''A Town Like Alice'' (1956), ''Carve Her Name with Pride'' (1958), ''Born Free'' (1966), and ...

, was taken from a line in Raine's poem "The Marriage of Psyche". The relationship with Maxwell ended in 1956 when Raine lost his pet otter, Mijbil, indirectly causing the animal's death. Raine held herself responsible, not only for losing Mijbil but for a curse she had uttered shortly beforehand, frustrated by Maxwell's homosexuality: "Let Gavin suffer in this place as I am suffering now." Raine blamed herself thereafter for all Maxwell's misfortunes, beginning with Mijbil's death and ending with the cancer from which he died in 1969. From 1939 to 1941, Raine and her children shared a house at 49a Wordsworth Street in Penrith with Janet Adam Smith and Michael Roberts and later lived in Martindale. She was a friend of

Winifred Nicholson ''From Bedroom Window, Bankshead'', date unknown, private collection. Typical of Nicholson's impressionist work, combining still life with landscape. Rosa Winifred Nicholson (née Roberts; 21 December 1893 – 5 March 1981) was a British p ...

. Raine's two children were Anna Hopwell Madge (born 1934) and James Wolf Madge (1936–2006). In 1959, James married Jennifer Alliston, the daughter of Raine's friend, architect and town planner Jane Drew with architect James Alliston. At the time of her death, following an accident, Raine lived in London. She died of pneumonia after being knocked over by a reversing car after having posted a letter.

Works

Her first book of poetry, ''Stone And Flower'' (1943), was published by

Tambimuttu Meary James Thurairajah Tambimuttu (15 August 1915 – 23 June 1983) was a Tamil poet, editor, critic and publisher, who for many years played a significant part on the literary scenes of London and New York City. He founded in 1939 the respecte ...

, and illustrated by

Barbara Hepworth Dame Jocelyn Barbara Hepworth (10 January 1903 – 20 May 1975) was an English artist and sculptor. Her work exemplifies Modernism and in particular modern sculpture. Along with artists such as Ben Nicholson and Naum Gabo, Hepworth was a lea ...

. In 1946 the collection, ''Living in Time'', was released, followed by ''The Pythoness'' in 1949. Her ''Collected Poems'' (2000) drew from eleven previous volumes of poetry. Her classics include ''Who Are We?'' There were many subsequent prose and poetry works, including her scholarly masterwork, the two-volume ''Blake and Tradition'' (published in 1969, and derived from the Andrew Mellon Lectures she delivered at the

National Gallery of Art The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

in Washington D.C in 1968), which demonstrated the antiquity, coherence and integrity of

's philosophy, refuting T S Eliot's assertion to the contrary (''Collected Essays'', 1932). The story of her life is told in a three-volume autobiography notable for the author's attempts to impose a structure on her memories that is quasi mythical, thus relating her own life to a larger pattern. This reflects patterns in her poetry, influenced by

. The three books were originally published separately and later brought together in a single volume, entitled ''Autobiographies'' (in conscious imitation of Yeats), edited by Lucien Jenkins. Raine made translations of Honoré de Balzac's ''Cousine Bette'' (Cousin Bette, 1948) and ''Illusions perdues'' (''Lost Illusions'', 1951). She was a frequent contributor to the quarterly journal,

Studies in Comparative Religion ''Studies in Comparative Religion'' was a quarterly academic journal published from 1963 to 1987 that contained essays on the spiritual practices and religious symbolism of the world's religions. The journal was notable for the number of prominen ...

, which dealt with religious symbolism and the Traditionalist perspective. With Keith Critchlow, Brian Keeble and Philip Sherrard she co-founded, in 1981, ''Temenos'', a periodical, and later, in 1990, the Temenos Academy of Integral Studies, a teaching academy that stressed a multistranded universalist philosophy, and in support of her generally

Platonist Platonism is the philosophy of Plato and philosophical systems closely derived from it, though contemporary platonists do not necessarily accept all of the doctrines of Plato. Platonism had a profound effect on Western thought. Platonism at l ...

and

Neoplatonist Neoplatonism is a strand of Platonic philosophy that emerged in the 3rd century AD against the background of Hellenistic philosophy and religion. The term does not encapsulate a set of ideas as much as a chain of thinkers. But there are some id ...

views on poetry and culture. She studied Thomas Taylor and published a selection of his works. Raine was a research fellow at

Girton College Girton College is one of the Colleges of the University of Cambridge, 31 constituent colleges of the University of Cambridge. The college was established in 1869 by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon as the first women's college in Cambridge. In 1 ...

from 1955 to 1961. She taught at Harvard for at least one course about Myth and Literature offered to teachers and professors in the summer. She also spoke on Yeats and Blake and other topics at the Yeats School in Sligo, Ireland, in the summer of 1974. A professor at Cambridge and the author of a number of scholarly books, she was an expert on Coleridge, Blake, and Yeats. The contemporary composer David Matthews has written a song-cycle, ''The Golden Kingdom'', on some of Raine's poems. Richard Rodney Bennett's "Spells" (1974–75), a work for soprano, chorus, and large orchestra, is set to texts by Raine.

Honours

Raine received honorary doctorates from universities in the United Kingdom, France and the United States and won numerous awards and honors, including the Edna St. Vincent Millay Prize from the American Poetry Society (date unknown), and also: * 1952 Harriet Monroe Memorial Prize * 1953 Arts Council Award * 1961 Oscar Blumenthal Prize * 1970 Cholmondeley Award * 1972 Smith Literary Award * 1976 Warton Lecture on English Poetry * 1992 Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry * 2000

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

, Commander * 2000 L'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres, Commandeur

Bibliography

Poetry collections

* ''Stone and Flower'', Nicholson and Watson, 1943 * ''Living in Time'', Editions Poetry London, 1946 * ''The Pythoness, and other poems'', H. Hamilton, 1949 * ''The Year One: Poems'', H. Hamilton, 1952 * ''Collected poems'', H. Hamilton, 1956 * ''The Hollow Hill: and other poems, 1960–1964'', H. Hamilton, 1965 * ''Six Dreams, and other poems'', Enitharmon, 1968 * ''Penguin Modern Poets 17 (David Gascoyne, W.S. Graham, Kathleen Raine)'', Penguin, 1970 * ''Lost Country'', Dolmen Press, 1971 * ''On a Deserted Shore'', Dolmen Press, 1973. ''En una desierta orilla'' Trad. de R. Martínez Nadal. M., Hiperión, 1981. * ''The Oval Portrait, and other poems'', Enitharmon Press, 1977 * ''The Oracle in the Heart, and other poems, 1975–1978'', Dolmen Press/G. Allen & Unwin, 1980 * ''Collected poems, 1935–1980'', Allen & Unwin, 1981 * ''The Presence: Poems, 1984–87'', Golgonooza Press, 1987 * ''Selected Poems'', Golgonooza Press, 1988 * ''Living with Mystery: Poems 1987-91'', Golgonooza Press, 1992 * ''The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine'', Golgonooza Press, 2000 * ''The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine'', Faber and Faber, 2019 (pbk.)

Prose

* ''Defending Ancient Springs'', 1967 * '' Thomas Taylor the Platonist. Selected Writings'', Raine, K. and Harper, G.M., eds., Bollingen Series 88, London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 (also pub. Princeton University, USA) * ''Blake and Tradition'', 2 Volumes, Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1969 * ''William Blake'', The World of Art Library - Artists, Arts Book Society, Thames and Hudson, London, 1970 (216 pp, 156 illustrations) * ''Yeats, the Tarot and the Golden Dawn'', Dolmen Press, 1973 * ''The Inner Journey of the Poet'', Golgonooza Press, 1976 * '' Cecil Collins: Painter of Paradise'', Golgonooza Press, 1979 * ''From Blake to a Vision'', Dolmen Press, 1979 * ''Blake and the New Age'', George Allen and Unwin, 1979 * ''Blake and Antiquity'', Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1979 (an abbreviation of the 1969 ''Blake and Tradition''; republished in 2002 by Routledge Classics with a new introduction by Raine) * ''The Human Face of God: William Blake and the Book of Job'', Thames and Hudson, 1982 * ''The Inner Journey of the Poet, and other papers'', ed. Brian Keeble, Allen & Unwin, 1982 * ''Yeats the Initiate'', George Allen & Unwin, 1987 * ''W.B. Yeats and the Learning of the Imagination'', Golgonooza Press, 1999. * ''Seeing God Everywhere: Essays on Nature and the Sacred'', World Wisdom, 2004 (contributed essay) * ''The Betrayal of Tradition: Essays on the Spiritual Crisis of Modernity'', World Wisdom, 2005 (contributed essay) * ''That Wondrous Pattern: Essays on Poetry and Poets'', Counterpoint Press, 2017 * ''These Bright Shadows: The Poetry of Kathleen Raine'', by Brian Keeble. A pioneering study of the poetic imagination of Kathleen Raine. (Angelico Press, 2020)

Autobiography

* ''Farewell Happy Fields'', Hamilton/G. Braziller, 1974 * ''The Land Unknown'', Hamilton/G. Braziller, 1975 * ''The Lion's Mouth'', Hamilton/G. Braziller, 1977. autob. * ''India Seen Afar'', Green Books/G. Braziller, 1990 * ''Autobiographies'', ed. Lucien Jenkins, Skoob Books, 1991

Biography

''No End to Snowdrops'', Philippa Bernard. Shepheard-Walwyn (Publishers) Ltd, 2009,

Adaptations

* ''Who stands at the door in the storm and rain'' from ''The Year One: Poems'' (1952) was set by composer

Tarik O'Regan Tarik Hamilton O'Regan (; born 1 January 1978) is a British and American composer. His compositions number over 100 and are partially represented on 43 recordings which have been recognised with two Grammy nominations. He is also the recipien ...

for unaccompanied chorus in 2006 with the title ''Threshold of Night''; it was first recorded on the 2008 album of the same name. * A number of poems were also set by

Geoffrey Bush Geoffrey Bush (23 March 1920 – 24 February 1998) was a British composer, teacher and music scholar. Largely without formal training in composition, he produced a wide range of compositions across different genres, including many songs and wor ...

; these settings were recorded by Benjamin Luxon for Chandos. * The song-cycle ''On a Deserted Shore'' by

Joseph Phibbs Joseph Phibbs (born 25 April 1974) is an English composer of orchestral, choral and chamber music. He has also composed for theatre, both in the UK and Japan. Since 1998 he has written regularly to commissions for Festivals (including for Chelten ...

was written and performed for the Temenos Academy in 2012 to texts by Kathleen Raine. * ''A Spell For Creation'' was set by composer

Mike Oldfield Mike may refer to: Animals * Mike (cat), cat and guardian of the British Museum * Mike the Headless Chicken, chicken that lived for 18 months after his head had been cut off * Mike (chimpanzee), a chimpanzee featured in several books and document ...

in the soundtrack for the documentary film '' The Space Movie''.

References

External links

Profile and poems, written and audio at the Poetry Archive

Guide to the Kathleen Raine Papers.
Special Collections and Archives, The UC Irvine Libraries, Irvine, California.
Temenos Academy
*
Kathleen Raine collection
at University of Victoria, Special Collections
Lengthy interview
of Raine by Naim Attallah
Kathleen Raine Papers
at the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Raine, Kathleen 1908 births 2003 deaths 20th-century biographers 20th-century English historians 20th-century English non-fiction writers 20th-century English poets 20th-century English women writers 20th-century essayists 20th-century memoirists 20th-century translators 21st-century essayists Alumni of Girton College, Cambridge British women literary critics Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commandeurs of the Ordre des Arts et des Lettres Cultural critics Deaths from pneumonia English autobiographers English biographers English essayists English historians of philosophy English literary critics English literary historians English memoirists English people of Scottish descent English spiritual writers English translators English women non-fiction writers English women poets Harvard University staff Lecturers Literacy and society theorists Literary theorists People from Ilford Neoplatonists Social critics Traditionalist School William Blake scholars Writers about activism and social change Writers from Essex W. B. Yeats scholars