You know Thomas Merton as one of the most extraordinary voices of the twentieth century: a profound mystic, a gifted writer, and an exceptional teacher. Now, hear Merton, a celebrated poet himself, share his deepest insights into poetry. Merton studied English at Cambridge and Columbia, where he wrote his master's thesis on William Blake. An English professor at Columbia and St. Bonaventure University, Merton relinquished his life as a budding academic to become a Trappist monk. His passion for literature never faded, and he continued to write and teach about literature while at the Abbey of Gethsemani. Merton believed that studying literature was fundamental to understanding life, and in this captivating set released for the first time ever, Merton explores how poetry reveals such topics as love, suffering, spiritual experience, and nature. Under his guidance, you will look at such poets as William Blake, Gerard Manley Hopkins, W. H. Auden, Charles Peguy, and Emily Dickinson. Merton saw poetry not only as one of the most profound modes of human expression but also as a very real way in which to encounter Jesus. He understood that "art and poetry attune the soul to God because they induce a kind of contact with the Creator and Ruler of the Universe" (No Man Is an Island, 37). Weaving his Catholic spirituality together with this passion for poetry, he shows how the two realms complement each other. Sit at the feet of this masterful poet today. *Photograph of Thomas Merton by Sibylle Akers. Used with Permission of the Merton Legacy Trust and the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University. These recordings are from the archives of the Thomas Merton Center at Bellarmine University, in Louisville, Kentucky.