Anyone interested in the Inkling Poets will find this book both fascinating and insightful about "the oddest Inkling," Charles Williams. Scholars of Dante, Tennyson, the Inklings, the Theology of Romantic Love, or the Arthurian poetical tradition will appreciate this work as critical to their research. C. S. Lewis considered Charles Williams to be perhaps the greatest Inkling. Other Williams' contemporaries echoed Lewis' esteem for Williams, such as W. H. Auden, who referred to Williams as "the only writer since Dante who has found out how to make poetry of theology and history." Acknowledging Williams to be the greatest of all Dante scholars, Dorothy Sayers called him the "Master of the Affirmations." Besides those accolades, Williams has certainly earned his reputation as the most eminent and prolific Arthurian poet since Alfred, Lord Tennyson. Williams' Arthurian poems represent not only his uniquely creative expression of Arthuriansim but also an attempt to correct what Williams thought was Tennyson's mishandling of the Arthurian tradition, especially his "celestialization" of Sir Galahad and his dematerialization of the Holy Grail. However, to read Williams' poems in light of Tennyson, but apart from a recognition of Dante's influence upon Williams, will result not only in a deficient understanding of Williams' Arthurian poems but also in an underestimation of Williams as a poet. Most important to Williams' Arthurian poetry is his incorporation of Dante's image of the Holy Trinity as a "point of light," which Williams reinvents as "a light beyond Jupiter," the supreme expression of Williams' Trinitarianism and "the consummation of his thought and art."
About the Author: BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION Hal Brunson has served the Christian community for over forty years as a pastor, consultant, and educator. He has taught at the graduate, undergraduate, and college-preparatory levels. An interdisciplinarian, Hal writes in several disciplines including theology, aesthetics, and poetry. He also composes music. A native of Texas, Hal currently resides in Whitefish, Montana, with his wife Nancy, where he teaches at a classical, Christian school. EDUCATION B. A., Biblical Studies, Central Baptist College M. A., Interdisciplinary Studies, UT-Tyler M. Div., BMA Theological Seminary Ph. D., Humanities, UT-Dallas AWARDS AND GRANTS -Outstanding Teacher of the Humanities, Southern Methodist University -Outstanding Teacher of the Humanities, Brookhaven College -Visiting Scholar, Sarah Lawrence College, National Endowment for the Humanities -Visiting Scholar, Trinity College, Washington, D. C., National Endowment for the Humanities