Mysticism Across Cultures: Studies on Select Poets and Saints

This study offers a fresh critical perspective on mystical poetry across cultures and faiths from a point of view that balances the eastern and western approaches. It specifically examines, in some depth and range, select verses of a fairly large number of poets in order to highlight the universal features of mysticism as it finds expression in their works. The poets chosen include (i) Kashmiri poets : Lal Ded, Nunda Rishi, Shams Faqir, Zinda Kaul, Swami Govind Kaul and Bhavani Bhagyavaan Pandit, (ii) British poets : Coventry Patmore and T.S. Eliot and (iii) 16 century Spanish poet, St John of the cross. In a refreshingly novel way, the author discusses mysticism and its relationship with poetry, seeking to show how the latter, through apt images and symbols, serves to convey man’s experience of the divine. His competent English translation of Kashmiri verses, well-matched by his fine critical analysis of the whole textual material, enhances further the charm and value of this scholarly work. The perceptive reader will notice that the author’s approach to the subject and the critical method he employs reflect a classical mind at work equipped with sound scholarship and a thorough grasp of the essentials of Hindu, Christian and Islamic mysticism.