Comparative Readings of Poems Portraying Symbolic Images of Creative Genius

This original research explores the poetry of major writers (Sophia de M. Breyner Andresen, Teixeira de Pascoaes, R. M. Rilke, John Donne, John of the Cross, Edward Young, Lao Tzu, William Wordsworth, Walt Whitman) from the viewpoint of comparative literature, presenting a new insight into poetic ingenium through symbolic representations (angels, labyrinths, night visions and the eternal return). The Portuguese contemporary poet Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen is a major reference throughout in the comparative readings of poems portraying symbolic images of creative genius, especially those images captured in numinous awareness of the world.