Kathleen Raine

For the poet and scholar Kathleen Raine, ancient texts were not obsolete, but vital handbooks for reading reality. Drawing on Graeco-Roman philosophy alongside modernist receptions of the ancient world, this book is the first study of her engagement with classical antiquity. Raine’s interpretation of the classical past not only informed her literary work, but also gave her a compelling perspective, which located consciousness as the basis of reality. This way of seeing the world, traceable from antiquity to the present day via the ‘perennial philosophy’, claimed little distinction between inner self and outer world, and stressed the interconnectedness of all beings. Jenny Messenger explores Raine’s use of Graeco-Roman philosophy as source texts for understanding consciousness, articulated throughout her poetry, scholarship and autobiographical writing. Raine believed there were multiple planes of consciousness, across which symbolic poetry and prose could operate to reach the highest levels of being. The creative arts were even capable of shaping consciousness, expanding or shrinking the scope of what could be experienced. Though she won acclaim during her lifetime, her literary reputation has been overshadowed by her relationship with writer and naturalist Gavin Maxwell. This book moves the focus back to Raine’s work, bringing her complex classicism to a wider audience. Kathleen Raine: Classics and Consciousness explores the relationship between Graeco-Roman antiquity and conceptions of consciousness in the work of the poet and scholar Kathleen Raine. Drawing on her poetry, scholarship, essays and autobiographical writings, the book argues that she sees consciousness as the foundation of reality, with no separation between the inner self and outer world. Within this, literature is capable of shaping consciousness, expanding or shrinking the scope of what can be experienced. This view is informed by ancient texts, including Presocratic philosophy, the Platonic dialogues, Neoplatonic philosophy and the Corpus Hermeticum – all of which form part of what she considered to be the lost symbolic discourse of a ‘perennial philosophy’, traceable from antiquity to the present day. On this model, Raine’s reception of classical antiquity depends on receptivity and recollection, which can bring about different states of consciousness and provides a symbolic language for poetry.