This is the first major study of Australian poet Christopher Brennan's 1914 work "Poems," a. very deliberate "livre compose" inspired by Western esoteric, Romantic, and Symbolist currents of thought. This book argues that Brennan's primary focus was the notion of a higher self.

Katherine Barnes, Ph.D. (2003) in English, Australian National University, is a lecturer in English at the Australian Defence Force Academy campus of the University of NSW. She is the author of several articles on Brennan and co-editor of Words for Their Own Sake: The Pursuit of Literature in an Economic Rationalist World (2004).