God and the Poets : The Gifford Lectures, 1983

First published in 1984, and now reprinted here with a new Introduction by Jenni Calder, this book encapsulates many of Daiches's key interests - ranging as it does from the Psalms and the Book of Job to 20th-century Scottish and American poetry. In enquiring into the relationship between poets, poetry and the divinity, Daiches is exploring humanity's creative engagement with spirituality. Beginning with Job's challenge to God, Daiches moves through medieval Hebrew poetry, Dante, Milton, and English, Scottish and American poetry of faith, doubt and denial. In a fascinating and illuminating journey he vividly demonstrates the nature and compass of poetry itself, and its ability to express all humanity's intellectual, psychological and emotional needs. It is not only for students of literature and lovers of poetry, but for all those, with or without religious faith, with an interest in fundamental issues of the human condition.