Oak Tree and the Branch, The

Nicholas Hagger�s Collected Poems�contained 30 volumes of his poems, and Life Cycle and Other New Poems�contained volumes 31�34. Together they reflect his quest along the Mystic Way, and the vision of unity and harmony to which it led. The Oak Tree and the Branch�contains volumes 35�41 and continues his presentation of apparent conflicts (Brexit, coronavirus, war and extreme suffering) and the underlying unity of the universe within his Arcadia. The Oak Tree and the Branch�sees the UK�s departure from Europe as a lopped branch from the Tree of Tradition of European civilisation. The Tapestry�dwells on his rootedness in the past, especially in the Tudor time. A Plague in Arcadia: Oneness with Nature and the Universe�presents a host of Nature poems in his local Fairmead�s Arcadian paradise during the spread of coronavirus, the Covid plague. An Oval Cloud�presents a sequence of encounters with an oval cloud seen behind his closed eyes, which he tries to understand. Court Poems: More Royal Classical Odes�includes Royal events: a wedding, two funerals and a coronation, and another lopped branch. In Arcady: A Gong and Padded Stick�surveys his Providential life. And the harrowing Agony in Arcady: Stroke�wrings from him the whole range of emotions as he comes to terms with his daughter�s severe stroke (another lopped branch) and heroic endurance. Hagger�s mystical vision of the unity of Nature, the universe and humankind shines through all these new poems. Hagger derives his inspiration from the 16th- and 17th-century Metaphysical poets and seeks to unite the later Augustan and Romantic traditions. These poems reconcile the soul�s harmony with the universe and the conflicts in public life, and add significantly to the themes of Collected Poems, Classical Odes, Life Cycle�and Hagger�s two poetic epics, Overlord�and Armageddon, all published by O-Books. They carry forward his Universalist approach to poetry which unveils an ordered universe behind the apparent chaos of world events