Talks take place on Thursday afternoons, starting at 2pm, and usually take place in the Lecture Hall, Rewley House, 1 Wellington Square, Oxford OX1 2JA. These are free for Oxford u3a members but you are welcome to attend as a guest for a donation of £5 (£2 for members of all other U3As).
Most talks are recorded on Zoom for the benefit of those Oxford u3a members who are unable to attend Rewley House.
In the event of adverse weather conditions, please telephone Rewley House (01865 270360), to enquire whether the talk has been cancelled.
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Dr Edward Clarke – The Cherubims and English Poetry
25th January 2024 @ 2:00 pm - 3:00 pm
Edward Clarke’s latest collection of poems is called Cherubims. A Book of Psalms was published in 2020, and Eighteen Psalms in 2018. Clarke’s Psalter, the documentary he presented about writing his psalm poems, was broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in September 2018. He is also the author of two books of literary criticism, The Later Affluence of W. B. Yeats and Wallace Stevens and The Vagabond Spirit of Poetry. The Secret Mind of Art will be published in 2024. He teaches English literature and art history at various colleges and the Department for Continuing Education at Oxford University.
In this talk he will investigate the Cherubims as they are presented in the Bible and English poetry. In the Old Testament we find them as guards of Eden after the expulsion. Later their sphinx-like forms are carved above the mercy-seat and they re-appear as living creatures or even a living chariot to Ezekiel in exile. In the Pseudo-Dionysius they are purified to form part of the highest triad of angels. Edward will draw on this rich tradition to read poems by John Milton, Henry Vaughan, William Blake and others