“R. S. Thomas’s terse and condensed poetic voice is inflected more than some readers realise by a deep hinterland of theological and philosophical reflection.  This creative new reading of his poetry locates him very specifically in what is not only a theological but a liturgical place, the intense but fertile darkness of the day between Good Friday and Easter —‘a descent into hell’ that is also a retrieval and transformation of the experiences of loss, protest and failure.  This is a subtle, careful and persuasive interpretation of one of our major modern poets.’