Ebook
Brayton Polka's book, On Poetry and Philosophy: Thinking Metaphorically with Wordsworth and Kant, is unique in bringing poetry and philosophy together in a single study. The poet and the philosopher whom he makes central to his project are both revolutionary founders of modernity, Wordsworth of romantic poetry and Kant of critical philosophy. Both the poet and the philosopher, as the author makes clear in his study, found their principles, at once poetically metaphorical and philosophically critical, on the religious values that are central to the Bible--that all human beings are equal before God.
“In his trenchant readings of the poetry of Wordsworth and the
philosophy of Kant, Brayton Polka deconstructs the traditional
opposition between poetry and philosophy by demonstrating that
human existence is metaphorical, not reducible to false idols that
appear natural or literal in meaning. True poetry and philosophy
arise out of the biblical imperative that human beings must
interpret each other as moral subjects, not as natural objects, in
accord with the love of God and humanity.”
—Grant Havers, Trinity Western University
“In this erudite, yet accessible, study of the deeper relationship
between poetry, philosophy, and religion, Brayton Polka
demonstrates once again why he is a master of interdisciplinary
scholarship. By way of a brilliant analysis of two important
pioneers of modernity, Immanuel Kant and William Wordsworth, Polka
shows how the language of philosophy and poetry are ultimately
metaphorical in nature, as they both transport readers from the
finite natural world to the infinite world of spirit.”
—Bernard Lightman, York University