James Rhoades was an English poet, mystic, translator and author (1841–1923). Author of The City of the five gates (Chapman & Hall,1913) which gives as a preface note: "The following poem is intended to convey the doctrine of what is often mistermed 'The New Thought'; namely, that by conscious union with the indwelling Principle of Life, man may attain completeness here and now. 'Out of the Silence,' while structurally conforming to the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, is directly opposite in its teaching."

A quote from this pamphlet (From Out of the Silence) is included in The Oxford Book of English Mystical Verse. 1917 (Nicholson & Lee, eds) as is O Soul of Mine.

James Rhoades is extensively quoted with approval by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch in On the Art of Reading (1920).