The Fourth Dimension. R.S. Thomas’s Poetry and the Question
of God’s Absence

The text deals with the poetry of R.S. Thomas (1913−2000) – a British author and an Anglican priest in the Church of Wales – whose works are full of controversial (given his priesthood) statements concerning the absence of God. As a lot of Thomas’s poems convey thoughts intersecting with post-secular reflection on the death of God, rooted in Derrida’s questioning of the “metaphysics of presence,” the article aims at tracing the inspirations behind Thomas’s quasi-religious poetry. The point of departure for this reflection is the poet’s recollection of being left by his parents alone for the first time. The impression of an empty house turns out to be an experience which shaped the poet’s attitude towards the disenchanted space he lives in. Although most critics claim that the apparent absence of God in Thomas’s poetry results directly from the tradition of theological via negativa, the author of the article pays attention to those characteristics which differentiate Thomas’s spirituality from the theological tradition and the most important difference between the poet’s attitude and the traditional model of Christian contemplation turns out to be time, or, more precisely, the temporal discrepancy between the possible accessibility of the transcendent being and the man’s ability to “catch it at work.”

 

The Fourth Dimension. R.S. Thomas’s Poetry and the Question
of God’s Absence

The text deals with the poetry of R.S. Thomas (1913−2000) – a British author and an Anglican priest in the Church of Wales – whose works are full of controversial (given his priesthood) statements concerning the absence of God. As a lot of Thomas’s poems convey thoughts intersecting with post-secular reflection on the death of God, rooted in Derrida’s questioning of the “metaphysics of presence,” the article aims at tracing the inspirations behind Thomas’s quasi-religious poetry. The point of departure for this reflection is the poet’s recollection of being left by his parents alone for the first time. The impression of an empty house turns out to be an experience which shaped the poet’s attitude towards the disenchanted space he lives in. Although most critics claim that the apparent absence of God in Thomas’s poetry results directly from the tradition of theological via negativa, the author of the article pays attention to those characteristics which differentiate Thomas’s spirituality from the theological tradition and the most important difference between the poet’s attitude and the traditional model of Christian contemplation turns out to be time, or, more precisely, the temporal discrepancy between the possible accessibility of the transcendent being and the man’s ability to “catch it at work.”