To Scorch or Freeze : Poems about the Sacred

Here Davie, a writer attuned to both the changes of the modern world and a living literary tradition, turns to the lapsed poetic practice of translation and imitation of the Psalms of David. The result is a series of poems that speak powerfully of moral indignation and spiritual discovery within the complex of modernity. "Few modern poets have managed to achieve Donald Davie's sense of human worth."--Times Higher Educational Supplement

Donald Davie, professor emeritus at Vanderbilt University, resides in Devon, England. He is the author of many respected critical works and volumes of poetry. His collected poems have been published in two volumes, in 1972 and in 1984.