The Lucid Veil is conceived as a sequel to The Mirror and the Lamp by M.H. Abrams. It gives a comprehensive account of the philosophic background of Victorian poetics. It is the first study to attempt to relate the theory and practice of poetry in the Victorian period to changing axioms of knowledge and perception. it will become a major work of reference and a new point of departure in the study of Victorian thought, philosophy, language and poetry. The author is Professor of English at Victoria College, University of Toronto.

Torn between the competing forces of scholarship as a profession and scholarship as a calling - between Babel and the Ivory Tower - the modern academic faces a dilemma: should she or he try to preserve the soul of higher education by cultivating the Muse of personal knowledge, or renounce the Music and imitate a technician? Having come to the end of his own scholarly career, W. David Shaw felt out of place in the technological realm academia has become - where scholars increasingly model their work on that of scientists rather than the classical thinkers of the past, and where original ideas often only alienate the scholar, rather than enrich. Thus, Babel and the Ivory Tower is as much a eulogy as an elegy. Shaw reflects on the changes that have taken place in the academic sphere while philosophically enlarging our stock of fresh ideas about the competing claims of maps and models and open and closed capacities in higher learning. This is a fascinating and illuminating discussion of liberal and contemplative scholarship and adds significantly to the growing body of contemporary philosophical literature.