Kathleen Raine

Kathleen Jessie Raine (June 14 1908 ? July 6 2003) was a British poet, critic and independent scholar writing in particular on William Blake and W. B. Yeats. She was born in London, and brought up partly in Northumberland. She read natural sciences and psychology on a Exhibition at Girton College, Cambridge. While in Cambridge she met Jacob Bronowski, William Empson, Humphrey Jennings and Malcolm Lowry.

Related Topics:
June 14 - 1908 - July 6 - 2003 - Independent scholar - William Blake - W. B. Yeats - Girton College, Cambridge - Jacob Bronowski - William Empson - Humphrey Jennings - Malcolm Lowry

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Her first book of poetry, Stone And Flower (1943) was published by Tambimuttu, and illustrated by Barbara Hepworth. Her Collected Poems (2000) drew from eleven volumes. Her Blake and Tradition was published in 1968. She founded Temenos, a periodical, and later the Temenos Academy, in support of her generally Platonist views on poetry and culture in general (more accurately, neo-platonist, after Plotinus).

Related Topics:
Tambimuttu - Barbara Hepworth - Plotinus

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Her complex and unsatisfactory private life included marriage to Hugh Sykes Davies, whom she left for Charles Madge — their subsequent marriage with two children broke up — and an unrequited passion for Gavin Maxwell. The title of Maxwell's most famous book Ring of Bright Water (subsequently made into a film of the same name starring Virginia McKenna) was taken from a line in Kathleen's poem The Marriage of Psyche.

Related Topics:
Hugh Sykes Davies - Charles Madge - Gavin Maxwell - Virginia McKenna

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