Gothic High: Meditations on the Construction of Gothic Cathedrals

Ever since they were first built, the great medieval cathedrals of Europe have inspired successive generations of pilgrims, worshippers, and casual visitors. Art historians and mystics alike have always read them as texts--as metaphysics and cosmologies in stone. Gothic High goes the other way, creating a text that is a cathedral.

In this remarkable, fully illustrated work, Goldian VandenBroeck has concentrated her attention on the cathedrals as buildings. Reading these words--laid down like stones--in light of their matching images, we are able to enter not only the spirit of the builders, but also the very processes whereby the buildings, stone by stone, erect their meaning and philosophy.

Focusing on the Gothic cathedrals of France, Goldian VandenBroeck's sonnets draw upon specific factual data of execution as well as outcome. But what is special about these poems is their imaginative insights, their vibrant images and felicitous turns of phrase, their rich nuggets of allusion culled from as far back as antiquity. They reveal the vivid panoply of energy and innovation, of praise and aspiration, of wonder, which were embodied in these astonishing triumphs of man's spirit. And in the process, we are conjured into sharing and being deeply moved by the vision which originally motivated the builder's many-splendored creations. ―John Fitchen, author of The Construction of Gothic Cathedrals 0940262576 21531 “For me, this Book of the Heart will long be a source of meditation on certain fundamental mysteries of everyday life, which Keats explored with mastery. This elegantly written book reveals Keats not only as a literary figure, but preeminently as a soul guide.” ―Thomas Moore, author of Care of the Soul and The Planets Within

“Andrés Rodríguez’s study of Keats’ Letters is much more than that. It is a wonderfully rich meditation on the Letters as a grand poem about the poetics of living. Book of the Heart gives the Letters the central place in our literature they deserve. This is a book―for all kinds of readers―about the power of the life of imagination.” ―Robert Hass, a Poet Laureate of the United States

“In Book of the Heart, scholarship, led by love, yields a passion of furious vigor.... If your soul is thirsty, a good hearty draught of this book will lead you into communion with Keats’ soul. I loved this book! I openly admit that the final chapters were read slowly, my vision blurred with tears. There is eros in thes pages, between these covers. I invite you in!” ―Russell Lockhart, former director of training for the Jung Institute of Los Angeles, author of Words as Eggs and Psyche Speaks 0940262649 21569 A collection of very precious clues to the sources of the Western spiritual tradition, pointing to the hidden currents both in history and in our own selves." ― Jacob Needleman