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Kathleen Raine Biography

Poet

Kathleen Raine was an English poet known for her surrealistic and mystical style. Her works often explore profound themes of human existence, such as death, love, and religion. Born on June 14, 1908, she passed away on July 6, 2003.

Death Despair

Book:The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

Source: The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

“I do not know Whether I spoke or heard The word That fills all silence.”

Self Mysticism Metaphysics Genesis Cryptic Occutism

Book:The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

Source: The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

“Let my body sweat Let snakes torment my breast My eyes be blind, ears deaf, hands distraught Mouth parched, uterus cut out, Belly slashed, back lashed, Tongue slivered into thongs of leather Rain stones inserted in my breasts, Head severed, If only the lips may speak, If only the god will come.”

Violence Mysticism Revelation Occultism Flagellation

Book:The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

Source: The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

“Those fields of childhood, tall Meadow-grass and flowers small, The elm whose dusky leaves Patterned the sky with dreams innumerable And labyrinthine vein and vine And wandering tendrils green, Have grown a seed so small A single thought contains them all”

Nature Dreams Memory Nostalgia Thought Idealism

Book:The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

Source: The Collected Poems of Kathleen Raine

“I make no apology for writing in nature's age-old and unaging language, of whose images we build our paradises, Broceliande and Brindavan, the Forest of Arden, Xanadu, Shelley's Skies, or even Wordsworth's Grasemere, which can be found on no map.”

Writing Age Found Language Sky Forests Paradise Maps Apology Shelley Wordsworth

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Intent on one great love, perfect, Requited and for ever, I missed love's everywhere Small presence, thousand-guised.”

Perfect Thousand Great Love

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Strangers have crossed the sound, but not the sound of the dark oarsmen Or the golden-haired sons of kings, Strangers whose thought is not formed to the cadence of waves, Rhythm of the sickle, oar and milking pail”

Sound Dark Son Kings Wave Stranger Golden Rhythm Cadence Oar

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Being a poet is not a job or a profession but a way of life.”

Way Jobs Poet Profession

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Academia is a graveyard of poets.”

Poet Academia Graveyard

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Of all the arts the living of a life is perhaps the greatest; to live every moment of life with the same imaginative commitment as the poet brings to a special field.”

Art Moments Life Is Special Fields Poet Commitment Imaginative Moments Of Life Live Every Moment

Author:Kathleen Raine

“It was not the purpose of poetry to record anything and everything, to merely describe either the outer world or some subjective mood, but to speak from the imagination of the poet to the imagination of the reader.”

World Purpose Speak Imagination Records Poet Reader Mood Subjective Outer Worlds Anything And Everything

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Poetry is not an end in itself but in the service of life; of what use are poems, or any other works of art, unless to enable human lives to be lived with insight of a deeper kind, with more sensitive feelings, more intense sense of the beautiful, with deeper understanding?”

Humans Kind Art Ends Use Feelings Beautiful Understanding Deeper Insight Intense Human Life Sensitive Poetry Is Works Of Art Deeper Understanding

Author:Kathleen Raine

“... the poem reminds us of what we ourselves know, but did not know we knew; reminds us, above all, of what we are.”

Knows

Author:Kathleen Raine

“The work of the artist is to heal the soul.”

Soul Artist Heal

Author:Kathleen Raine

“The air is full of a farewell- deserted by the silver lake lies the wild world, overturned. Cities rise where the mountains fell, the furnace where the phoenix burned”

World Lying Cities Air Mountain Environmental Lakes Silver Pollution Burned Farewell Phoenix Deserted Furnaces Wild World

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Chemistry dissolves the goddess in the alembic, Venus, the white queen, the universal matrix, Down to the molecular hexagons and carbon-chains.”

Science White Universal Chains Queens Chemistry Goddess Carbon Venus

Author:Kathleen Raine

“As a child I became a confirmed believer in the ancient gods simply because as between the reality of fact and the reality f myth, I chose myth...Myth is the truth of fact, not fact the truth of myth.”

Children Facts Reality Belief Ancient Myth Believer Ancient Gods

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Of all created things the source is one, Simple, single as love; remember The cell and seed of life, the sphere That is, of child, white bird, and small blue dragon-fly Green fern, and the gold four-petalled tormentilla The ultimate memory. Each latent cell puts out a future, Unfolds its differing complexity As a tree puts forth leaves, and spins a fate Fern-traced, bird feathered, or fish-scaled.”

Life Children Remember Memories Simple White Four Fate Tree Source Future Bird Gold Ultimate Blue Green Simplicity Fishes Seeds Cells Complexity Dragons Spheres Latent Ferns White Birds

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“And see the peaceful trees extend their myriad leaves in leisured dance- they bear the weight of sky and cloud upon the fountain of their veins.”

Tree Sky Bears Weight Clouds Peaceful Veins Fountain Forests And Trees Sky And Clouds

Author:Kathleen Raine

“Sensing us, the trees tremble in their sleep, The living leaves recoil before our fires, Baring to us war-charred and broken branches, And seeing theirs, we for our own destruction weep.”

War Sleep Fire Seeing Tree Broken Destruction Branches Sensing Recoil

Author:Kathleen Raine

“O never harm the dreaming world, the world of green, the world of leaves, but let its million palms unfold the adoration of the trees It is a love in darkness wrought obedient to the unseen sun, longer than memory, a thought deeper than the graves of time. The turning spindles of the cells weave a slow forest over space, the dance of love, creation, out of time moves not a leaf, and out of summer, not a shade.”

World Dream Moving Memories Space Millions Darkness Sun Tree Creation Summer Green Deeper Harm Graves Forests Cells Shade Unseen Leafs Palms Adoration Obedient

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Meanings, moods, the whole scale of our inner experience, finds in nature the 'correspondences' through which we may know our boundless selves.”

Knows May Self Whole Mood Scales Boundless Correspondence

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“Nature is the common, universal language, understood by all.”

Language Common Understood Universal Universal Language

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“I've read all the books but one Only remains sacred: this Volume of wonders, open Always before my eyes.”

Book Eye Spirit Religion Spirituality Wonder Garden Remains Sacred Awe Volume

Book:Selected poems

Source: Selected poems

“I couldn't claim that I have never felt the urge to explore evil, but when you descend into hell you have to be very careful.”

Evil Felt Decision Hell Claims Careful Urges

Author:Kathleen Raine

About the Author

Born: June 14, 1908
Died: July 6, 2003
Known for: Poet
Quotes: 25

Books & Sources

Selected poemsRelated source material

The Collected Poems of Kathleen RaineRelated source material

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