David Daiches (1912–2005) was a distinguished teacher, critic and writer.

This collection, reprinted with a new introduction from Jenni Calder, collects his Gifford Lectures, given at the University of Edinburgh in 1983. Daiches principal concern and passion is poetry—specifically the relationship between the poet, their work and the possibility of communicating something of the Divine, and thus the lectures form a compelling investigation of the link between human creativity and spirituality. Beginning with a close reading of the book of Job,