Marian Poem-Prayers in the Modern Age Real Assent

Exploring a range of twentieth and twenty-first century Marian prayer-poetry - poem-prayers directed to or involving Mary - by poets such as T. S. Eliot, David Jones, Geoffrey Hill, Elizabeth Jennings, Hilary Davies and Rowan Williams, this book traces its resurgence from the late nineteenth-century to the present day. By the early twentieth century, the once widespread and fervent cult of the Virgin Mary had been at best deeply hidden, if not entirely absent from England''s religious life, since the Reformation. The figure of Mary similarly largely vanished from English poetry, only to return, gradually, as Marian devotion revived in the nineteenth century. The perception of it as somehow un-English, which had developed during the centuries of its absence, presented a challenge to poets who wished to take up the Marian theme in the modern day. This book looks at some ways in which male and female poets from both Roman Catholic and Anglican backgrounds responded to this situation. It also argues that the figure of Mary is a type of John Henry Newman''s category of "real assent": commitment that is not merely intellectual, but involves the totality of a person''s being in relation to God.

About the author

Jean Ward is Professor of Literary Studies in English at Gdansk University, Poland.

Product details

• Authors: Jean Ward, Ward Jean
• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Content: Book
• Product form: Hardback
• Publication date: 13.11.2025
• Subject: Humanities, art, music > Linguistics and literary studies > General and comparative literary studies; Fiction > Poetry, drama
• EAN: 9781350507371
• ISBN: 978-1-350-50737-1
• Pages: 224
• Dimensions (packing): 16.4 x 23.8 x 2 cm
• Series: New Directions in Religion and Literature
• Subjects: Religion, LITERARY CRITICISM / Poetry, RELIGION / Christianity / Literature & the Arts, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 21st Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Modern / 20th Century, LITERARY CRITICISM / Subjects & Themes / Religion, Mary, Theology, Christianity, Christian theology, Virgin Mary, T. S. Eliot, Devotion, Literary studies: poetry & poets, Literary studies: from c 1900 -, Rowan Williams, Christian spirituality & religious experience, Literary studies: c 1900 to c 2000, Literary studies: poetry and poets, Literary studies: from c 2000, Christian sacraments, Elizabeth Jennings, Anglican, Roman Catholic, geoffrey hill, David Jones, R. S. Thomas, Hilary Davies