Description:"... a significant contribution to the field... great insight, learning, and clarity." -- George Hart III, University of California, Berkeley"A master's hand is behind this volume." -- Religious Studies Review"... eminently readable... artfully explains the initial spirit and modern understanding of Tamil bhakti poetry... " -- Pacific Affairs"Norman Cutler's major achievement in Songs of Experience is the new critical perspective he provides on bhakti poetry." -- The Journal of ReligionCutler reveals the link between Tamil poetry and religion. His fluent translations make the poems -- songs of the experience of God -- live for us as they did for their first audience nearly fifteen centuries ago.