The Poetry of Rowan Williams: An Epistolary Explication (hardcover)

"The Name here is Rowan Williams. What we usually know about Williams is as Archbishop of Canterbury (2002-2012) and the issues that made the newspapers. His notable academic background may be a little less known: besides being holder of three Bishoprics, he has held two University Chancellorships and the Chair as Lady Margaret Professor of Divinity at Oxford, was voted a Fellow of the British Acadermy, and is the recepient of a remarkable number of awards, honorary doctorates...the list goes on. Rowan Williams is also a poet. [And one] may consider whether Williams is a serious poet. Can Williams be reckoned among those poietes, "makers," creators? Can we add him to that troup of the "il meglior fabbro" (that "better maker") of Dante's famous homage to his great Troubadour forebear, Arnaut Daniel, a distinction T.S. Eliot consciously echoes in his own homage to Ezra Pound? To assess and indeed to understand what Williams has accomplished, we have to avoid the requisite quotations of avid admirers on the book covers and look instead at [some] of his poems in detail...." -Dr. Gerald Snare (Introduction)