The Deluge, and Other Poems

About this book

John Presland’s The Deluge, and Other Poems opens with a sprawling, lyrical drama that blurs the line between poetry and stage play. The first lines introduce a speaker caught between divine love and mortal fear, invoking vows, jealousy, and a “gift so rare and precious” that even the heavens look on with covetous eyes. From there the text unfolds into a series of dialogues among a Mother, a Wife, and a Seek‑er, each wrestling with prophetic visions, celestial warnings, and the paradox of happiness that might offend a jealous God. The language is dense with mythic imagery, scarlet lilies, star‑crowned gods, and night skies that become “a vase of ebon in a silver shroud”, while the structure shifts between monologue, chorus, and scene, creating a rhythmic, almost operatic flow that propels the reader deeper into its theological and emotional turbulence.

Presland writes in a richly ornate style characteristic of late‑Romantic verse, where lofty diction and extended metaphors dominate the texture. The voice is both prophetic and intimate, echoing the cadence of 19th‑century poets who fused the personal with the cosmic. Readers who relish dense, philosophical poetry, especially those drawn to mythic reinterpretations, spiritual conflict, and the dramatic interplay of voice and chorus, will find this work a compelling, if demanding, exploration of love, divinity, and the human yearning for transcendence.