Mobipocket Reader May 2009 ISBN 978-0-06-193575-6
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About the Publisher
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* The bean sí is the death messenger in the Irish folk tradition.
* Meister Eckhart
* The clefts in limestone pavement
* May the departed and their dreams ever dwell
In the kind and faithful shelter of the Trinity.
About the Book
In this eagerly awaited follow-up to his international bestsellers Anam ara and Eternal Echoes, John O’Donohue turns his attention to the subject of beauty - the divine beauty that calls the imagination and awakens all that is noble in the human heart.
In these uncertain times, we are riven with anxiety; our trust in the future has lost its innocence, for we know now that anything can happen from one second to the next. In such an unsheltered world, it may sound naive to suggest that this might be the moment to invoke and awaken beauty, yet this is exactly the claim that this book seeks to explore.
Masterfully written, Divine Beauty focuses on the classical, medieval and Celtic traditions and reveals how beauty’s invisible embrace invites us towards new heights of passion and creativity. It also sets us free to discover the wonders of this world as our journey becomes illuminated upon a bright path between source and horizon, awakening and surrender.
Critical acclaim for John O’Donohue:
‘John O’Donohue is a man of the soul. His scholarly meditation on the continuing relevance of Ireland’s spiritual heritage has become a publishing phenomenon . . . This poetic meditation has become a bestseller on both sides of the Atlantic . . . A lyrical epic prayer’
The Times
‘Words of wisdom . . . a heady mixture of myth, poetry, philosophy . . . profound and moving’
Independent
‘It seems John O’Donohue, in his two bestsellers – Anam ara and now Eternal Echoes – is forging a new consciousness for his race from ancient Celtic mysticism . . . This poet, philosopher and prophet has struck a chord deep in the Irish psyche’
Ireland on Sunday
Also by John O’Donohue
ANAM CARA
ETERNAL ECHOES
PERSON ALS VERMITTLUNG
POETRY
CONAMARA BLUES
ECHOES OF MEMORY
DIVINE BEAUTY
THE INVISIBLE EMBRACE
JOHN O’DONOHUE
This eBook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly.
Version 1.0
Epub ISBN: 9781446436271
DIVINE BEAUTY
A BANTAM BOOK : 9780553813098
Originally published in Great Britain by Bantam Press,
a division of Transworld Publishers
PRINTING HISTORY
Bantam Press edition published 2003
Bantam edition published 2004
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Copyright © John O’Donohue 2003
The right of John O’Donohue to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright Designs and Patents Act 1988.
The author and publishers are grateful for permission to quote from the following: lines from Roy Campbell, St John of the Cross (Ad Donker Publishers); excerpt from Before Time Could Change Them by C.P. Cavafy, Copyright © 2001 by Theoharis C. Theoharis, reprinted by permission of Harcourt, Inc.; Denis Devlin, Collected Poems, Dedalus Press, 1989; poems of W.S. Graham, by kind permission of Michael and Margaret Snow; Geoffrey Hill, lines from ‘Tenebrae’, in Collected Poems (Penguin Books, 1985, first published in Tenebrae, 1978) Copyright © Geoffrey Hill, 1978, 1985; Li-Young Lee, excerpt from ‘Little Round’, from Book of My Nights, copyright © 2001 by Li-Young Lee, reprinted with the permission of BOA Editions Ltd; two poems from Lorca and Jiménez: Selected Poems, translated by Robert Bly, Beacon Press, Boston, 1973, by kind permission of Robert Bly; lines from ‘The Confession of Saint Patrick’ by John Skinner, copyright © 1998 by John Skinner, used by permission of Doubleday, a division of Random House, Inc.; lines from ‘Elegy 9’ from The Selected Poetry of Rainer Maria Rilke by Rainer Maria Rilke, translated by Stephen Mitchell, copyright © 1982 by Stephen Mitchell, used by permission of Random House, Inc.; Wallace Stevens, ‘The Deathbed as Altar’, from Sunday Morning, reprinted by permission of Faber and Faber; and extracts from the poems of W.B. Yeats, used by permission of A.P. Watt Ltd on behalf of Michael B. Yeats. The publishers have made every reasonable effort to contact the copyright owners of the quotations reproduced in this book. In the few cases where they have been unsuccessful they invite copyright holders to contact them direct.
Condition of Sale
This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out or otherwise circulated in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.