Alienated majesty (redux): Geoffrey Hill and 'a theology of language'. Issue 1 (1st December 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Helms, Travis
• Is Part Of: Book 2.0. Volume 6:Issue 1/2(2016)
• Page Start: 97
• Page End: 108
• Publication Date: 2016-12-01
• Subjects: Book industries and trade -- Technological innovations -- Periodicals; Publishers and publishing -- Periodicals; Book design -- Periodicals; Electronic publishing -- Periodicals; Books -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 070.5
• DOI: 10.1386/btwo.6.1-2.97_1
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 2042-8022

Abstract

This article offers a critical 'appreciation' of Geoffrey Hill and his 'theology of language', specifically as it is embedded in his prose essays and sequences of poetry. By examining Hill's remarks on language's fallenness and poetry as 'an act of at-one-ment', and by demonstrating the ways in which three of Hill's poetic sequences embody or enact those claims, it underscores the ways in which Hill continues the work of 'theo-poetic' thinkers such as Milton, Coleridge, Emerson and Whitman – and importantly departs from it. Situated in the context of this tradition, Hill is given tribute as a highly original theological thinker.