Taking its title from a poem by Yeats, this collection of essays focuses on the burdens and harsh conditions that, as Denis Donoghue underscores throughout, make any human achievement difficult. The essays explore both faith and literary works that engage faith, from Milton to Larkin.

Common to all is an alertness to the social bearing of literature and the role it plays in relation to politics, religion, and especially ethics. What emerges, for Donoghue, is the need to restore the primary of theology and church doctrine without evading the "dark parts" of the Old and New Testaments. Through his probing, reflective encounters with philosophical and religious issues, we witness a magisterial intelligence at work.