Global or Provincial: A Reading of Modern English Poets

This paper establishes the presence of Christian kerygma in modern English poetry. It also challenges the claims of some Western critics who maintain that this poetry is above factious or parochial interests and is, as they allege, universal in outlook. Their claim is shown untenable by documenting the strong affiliation that poets suchas Yeats, Eliot, Auden, Frost and some others have with Christianity. To prove the Christian elements in these poets, specific poems are examined and their religious aspects are elaborated. It is found that the life of Christhisincarnation, immaculate birth, and sacrifice for human redemption-adumbrates the poetic consciousness of these poets. It is further alleged that this poetry promotes a worldview which, in a global society, if it ever comes into existence, will sound like Christian jingoism