Theory and Theology in George Herbert’s Poetry: “Divinitie, and Poesie, Met”

by Elizabeth Clarke

Publisher:

Clarendon Press

, 1997

Overview

In seventeenth-century England, the poet George Herbert known as “Divine Herbert,” his poetry a model for those aspiring to the status of inspired Christian poet. Theory and Theology in George Herbert’s Poetry explores the relationship between the poetry of Herbert and the concept of divine inspiration rooted in devotional texts of the time.

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Key Features

• Considers three different treatises read and approved by Herbert
• Offers a new reading of many of Herbert’s poems
• Explores the work of Catholic reformer Juan de Valdés
• Traces some of Herbert’s strategies in his attempt to represent the mortification of his poetry

Contents

• Herbert and Savonarola: The Rhetoric of Radical Simplicity
• An Introduction to the Devoute Life and the Temple: ‘The Poetry of Meditation’ or ‘Private Ejaculations’?
• ‘Ejaculations’ and the Poetry of the Psalms: Herbert’s Role as Contemporary Psalmist
• Reading Herbert Reading Valdés: Antinomian Disruption, the Hundred and Ten Considerations, and the Temple
• The Sanctification of Poetry

Praise for the Print Edition

. . . the book contains many fine, original interpretations that advance our understanding of the poetry . . . this is a book of alert intelligence and subtle reading; it deserves to be studied by all readers of Herbert’s poetry.

—George Herbert Journal

This is a sophisticated, convincing, and important study, one that should be essential reading for any who wish to deepen their understanding of Herbert’s poetry and who would hope to locate the poet within the richly syncretic Post-Reformation and Counter-Reformation theological discourse. Clarke has taken on the major Herbert critics—and will now herself be ranked among them.

—Sixteenth Century Journal

Product Details

• Title: Theory and Theology in George Herbert’s Poetry: “Divinitie, and Poesie, Met”
• Author: Elizabeth Clarke
• Series: Oxford Theological Monographs
• Publisher: Oxford University Press
• Publication Date: 1997
• Pages: 312

About Elizabeth Clarke

Elizabeth Clarke earned a BA at King’s College and a DPhil at Oxford. She specializes in seventeenth-century religious poetry, spirituality, and religious writing, particularly by nonconformists and women. She leads the Perdita Project for early modern women’s manuscript compilations.