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In 1914, a remarkable poetic work appeared in Sydney, Australia, written in the form of a Symbolist livre compose by one of Stephane Mallarme's earliest admirers, Christopher Brennan. The book, simply titled "Poems", shows that Brennan was exploring pressing religious issues of his time. He melded Western esoteric currents such as alchemy and Rosicrucianism with Romantic literature and philosophy and French Symbolist theory. This book argues that the focus of "Poems" is the notion of a higher self. It is the first major study of Brennan's work in this broad religious, philosophical and literary context. Its argument is supported by evidence from Brennan's own library and the holdings of the Sydney library in which he worked.
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The Higher Self in Christopher Brennan’s Poems Aries Book Series Texts and Studies in Western Esotericism Editor Wouter J. Hanegraaff Editorial Board Jean-Pierre Brach Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke Advisory Board Roland Edighoffer – Antoine Faivre Olav Hammer – Andreas Kilcher Arthur McCalla – Monika Neugebauer-Wölk Marco Pasi – Mark Sedgwick – Jan Snoek Michael Stausberg – Kocku von Stuckrad György Szo˝nyi – Garry Trompf VOLUME 2 The Higher Self in Christopher Brennan’s Poems Esotericism, Romanticism, Symbolism by Katherine Barnes BRILL LEIDEN • BOSTON 2006 Cover photograph: Portrait of Christopher John Brennan. National Library of Australia vn 3579900. This book is printed on acid-free paper. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A C.I.P. record for this book is available from the Library of Congress. ISSN 1871-1405 ISBN-10 90 04 15221 0 ISBN-13 978 90 04 15221 2 © Copyright 2006 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands. Koninklijke Brill NV incorporates the imprints Brill Academic Publishers, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, and VSP. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, translated, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior written permission from the publisher. Authorization to photocopy items for internal or personal use is granted by Brill provided that the appropriate fees are paid directly to The Copyright Clearance Center, 222 Rosewood Drive, Suite 910, Danvers, MA 01923, USA. Fees are subject to change. printed in the netherlands Dedicated to the memory of Dymphna Clark CONTENTS Acknowledgements ...................................................................... Abbreviations .............................................................................. vii ix Introduction ................................................................................ 1 Chapter One Divinity and the Self ........................................ Introduction ............................................................................ Looking for a Human Divinity .............................................. “Twilights of the gods and the folk” .................................... Esoteric Wisdom .................................................................... “My hidden country” ............................................................ 17 17 22 34 41 47 Chapter Two Mirror and Abyss ............................................ Brennan, Yeats and Boehme .................................................. The Argument to the Lilith Sequence .................................. “The watch at midnight” ........................................................ “The plumes of night, unfurl’d” and the Inner “Abyss” ...... 53 53 57 74 78 Chapter Three Art and Silence .............................................. The Romantic View of Imagination .....................