Paul Mariani, "The Mystery of It All: The Vocation of Poetry in the Twilight of Modernity" (Paraclete Press, 2019)

Paul Mariani has spent fifty years writing poetry that celebrates the vibrant sacramentality of life in the twilight of Modernity, and writing the lives of some of our greatest modern poets. 

In this interview, Paul reflects on his vocation as poet, scholar, and biographer, drawing especially from his most recent books of poetry—All That Will Be New (Slant, 2022) and Ordinary Time (Slant, 2020)—and his prose work, The Mystery of It All (Paraclete Press, 2019). Our conversation explores Paul’s Catholic upbringing and scholarly formation, the poets who have shaped his imagination—most notably Gerard Manley Hopkins—the vocation of the Catholic poet, and what it means to live deeply as a person of wonder and imagination. 

Paul Mariani is University Professor Emeritus at Boston College.

Nathan H. Phillips is a podcast host on the New Books Network and lives in South Bend, Indiana.

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