Capperbar is about those moments of uplift, experienced by millions, which can be called spiritual or mildly mystical. Sometimes the triggers are the simple things of life - shadows on a wall, sunshine on a stair (the title poem even takes us onto the gun deck of a warship). More often they are love, art, landscape. Words too can often do so. Poetry therefore can also be a way to experience the spiritual.

Undertones adds something new and original to a subject already widely written about and of world wide interest. Books on mysticism have a ready readership, but Undertones broadens its appeal: it explores the idea that moments of mild mysticism can be, and are, experienced by millions of people. These moments are invariably life enhancing yet are almost always mistaken for something else. Knowing what they are is, in itself, a life changing experience. The theme is explored mainly through the lives and works of 19th century artists, writers and composers - because that, astonishingly, was the...