R.S. THOMAS: CONCEDING AN ABSENCE

R.S. THOMAS: CONCEDING AN ABSENCE

R.S. Thontas Conceding an Absence Images of God Explored Elaine Shepherd

First published in Great Britain 1996 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke. Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-39638-2 DOI 10.1057/9780230375499 ISBN 978-0-230-37549-9 (ebook) First published in the United States of America 1996 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-16098-2 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Shepherd. Elaine, 1941- R. S. Thomas : conceding an absence: images of God explored I Elaine Shepherd. p. em. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-16098-2 I. Thomas, R. S. (Ronald Stuart), 1913- -Religion. 2. Religious poetry, English--History and criticism. 3. God in literature. I. Title. PR6039.H618Z86 1996 821'.914--dc20 %-15981 CIP Elaine Shepherd 1996 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 1996 978-0-333-64968-8 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written pem1ission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. 10 9 8 7 6 05 04 03 02 01 5 4 3 2 00 99 98 97

For Peter and our sons

Contents List of Plates ix Acknowledgements xi 1 Introduction 1 2 Reading the Image 11 3 Landscape as Image 49 4 Myth and Science as Images of God 89 5 The Via Negativa 128 6 Counterpoint 157 7 Conclusion 186 Notes 190 Bibliography 208 Index 213 vii

List of Plates 1. Claude Monet, Lady with a Parasol. 2. Mary Cassatt, Young Woman Sewing. 3. Edgar Degas, Mademoiselle Dihau at the Piano. 4. Edgar Degas, Musicians in the Orchestra. 5. Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, Jane Avril Dancing. 6. Auguste Renoir, The Bathers. 7. Edgar Degas, Woman Combing. 8. Paul Gauguin, The Alyscamps at Aries. ix

Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge my indebtedness to my colleagues, particularly Ruth Evans, John Peck, John Freeman, Robin Attfield, Kevin Mills and Medwin Hughes. I am grateful to Robert Willoughby of London Bible College for references, and to Helen Wilcox of Groningen for good advice. Peter Keelan supported my research in the Salisbury Library and Jane Erskine, senior secretary, helped to prepare the text. I am especially grateful to Roger Ellis, without whose enthusiasm, commitment and editorial skills the project might never have been completed, and to my friend Kay Hughes who painted the cover picture. I thank my sons, Christopher, Geraint and Daniel, for their support, and my husband Peter for his care and encouragement, without which I would never have begun what seemed so large a task. I dedicate this work to them. Grateful acknowledgement is made for permission to quote from the following copyright sources: from Later Poems and Experimenting With an Amen by R.S. Thomas, by permission of Macmillan Press Ltd; material from Counterpoint by permission of Bloodaxe Books Ltd. R.S. Thomas gave generously of his time and all remaining texts appear with his kind permission. Parts of Chapter 1 and 2 first appeared in a different form in an article entitled: 'Where Flesh Meets Spirit: R.S. Thomas's Marginal Land', originally published in Grail: An Ecumenical Journal, Vol. 10, No. 4 (1994). Plate 3, Edgar Degas, Mademoiselle Dihau at the Piano, is reproduced by permission of the Mansell Collection, London. Plate 7, Edgar Degas, Woman Combing, is reproduced by permission of The Louvre, Paris. xi

God offers to every mind its choice between truth and repose. Emerson It's the attempt to define Him - that's when the trouble begins - perhaps we shouldn't attempt to define Him. R.S. Thomas xiii