'Ann heard Him speak, and Pantycelyn': The unexpected relationship between R. S. Thomas and the Calvinistic Methodists

Munday, Nathan 2018. 'Ann heard Him speak, and Pantycelyn': The unexpected relationship between R. S. Thomas and the Calvinistic Methodists. International Journal of Welsh Writing in English 5 (2018) , 1. 10.16995/ijwwe.5.3

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Abstract

This article explores the relationship between R. S. Thomas (1913–2000) and the Calvinistic Methodists, especially William Williams Pantycelyn (1717–91). It suggests that Thomas was drawing on Pantycelyn’s oeuvre and imitating some of his famous images, especially the pilgrim who seeks after an experiential knowledge of God – a God who can be known and felt. Both writers use pilgrim personas to distance and ventriloquise themselves in their work, and yet the poems, in both oeuvres, are written directly out of their own spiritual quests. Their pilgrims travel through literal topographies before turning within: while Pantycelyn’s speaker addresses his sin, Thomas’s speakers’ search for self slowly evolves into a quest for the deus absconditus.

Item Type:	Article
Date Type:	Publication
Status:	Published
Schools:	English, Communication and Philosophy
Publisher:	University of Wales Press
ISSN:	2053-1907
Date of First Compliant Deposit:	16 August 2017
Date of Acceptance:	17 July 2017
Last Modified:	10 Oct 2023 18:03
URI:	https://orca.cardiff.ac.uk/id/eprint/103689

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