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The critical neglect of the neo-Latin poetry of English writers, particularly those of the Renaissance and seventeenth century, presents a difficulty for those students interested in understanding the entire career of an Anglo-Latin author. In Herbert's case, his neo-Latin poetry presents very distinctive aspects of his literary character and techniques, a knowledge of which may enable future readers to better appreciate The Temple, Herbert's major English work. This thesis deals with Passio Discerpta (The Events of the Passion) and Lucus (The Sacred Grove) in particular, and demonstrates their firm place in the tradition of the sacred epigram. In order to form a clearer impression of the tradition and Herbert's work within it and of the contemporary models and sources upon which he drew, Chapter Two surveys briefly the epigrammatic conventions and religious background from which the sacred epigram derived. The differences between the epigrammatic style of Martial and of The Greek Anthology are discussed as well as the similarities between the satiric and the sacred epigram. Chapter Three presents a comparison with other poets of the period working within the same convention, most notably Crashaw, but also such writers as John Saltmarsh, Francis Thynne, and John Pyne. This comparison shows Herbert's superiority to previous writers in his use of the epigram for religious subject-matter. Herbert's skilful use of the conventions of the sacred epigram as a means of expressing his own deep religious feeling is demonstrated in the critical studies of Passio Discerpta and Lucus which form Chapters Four and Five, the core of this thesis. These chapters deal with the poems under the headings of arrangement, imagery, and narrative voice. The analysis of these various aspects reveals significant links between the arrangement of the poems within each volume and the imagery Herbert uses to express his themes. The thematic unity, the conscious selectivity of subject-matter, and the skilful use of the narrative voice as an integral part of the rhetorical structure are shown. On the basis of this study, Herbert's sacred epigrams as exemplified by Passio Discerpta and Lucus are seen as forming aesthetic landmarks in that tradition, and as providing a new perspective from which students of The Temple may understand more fully Herbert's entire literary career. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis discusses the theme of spiritual sacrifice in George Herbert's "The Temple". In terms of poetic content the study mainly assesses the relative importance, for Herbert of three qualities of spiritual sacrifice — repentance, dedication, and praise — and examines the significance, of Christ's Sacrifice and the role of the heart in spiritual sacrifice. Although Herbert's "Dedication" to his work suggests that each, poem, is a sacrifice, the study seeks to show, how, in addition to content, several, poems, in their combination, of language and form demonstrate, the sacrificial, act itself. Along, with a treatment, of this theme, discussion of the poems reveals the way in which motifs and images of sacrifice, recur, in many poems. Chapter One considers the sanctions and stipulations of offering spiritual sacrifices and the nature of the sacrifices themselves, through a study of Old and Hew. Testament, scripture. A sampling of homiletic and exegetical sources especially contemporary to Herbert, points out the prophetic and typological concerns relevant to the subject. Chapter Two begins the study of Herbert's poetry with, an explication of the first, several poems, with, particular attention paid to the way in which "The Sacrifice" provides a focal point, for the poems which, follow. Chapter Three surveys a selection of poems scattered throughout The Temple which specifically use the language and imagery of sacrifice. This study of spiritual sacrifice in the poetry concludes that, divine ministry initiates and provides assistance in the offering of the sacrifices, and that the spiritual, sacrifices arise from a heart; dealt with by the Spirit of God. Sacrifices characteristically express the poet's sense of dedication, and praise, along with repentance. Although these qualities receive varying emphases in the poetry, as a general premise it can he said that sin. must be confessed and a sense of fellowship with God restored before expressions of dedication and praise can properly and acceptably be offered. Some poems in their combination of language and form demonstrate or suggest the sacrificial act itself, particularly regarding the "pattern" in, which sacrificial qualities are considered. As a general conclusion spiritual sacrifice expresses a way in which the Christian, responds to the reception of divine Love and Grace. The offering of, spiritual sacrifices should and does constitute a regular activity in the life of the typical believer. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This dissertation describes the relationship between George Herbert's two principal works, The Temple (1633) and The Country Parson (1651). The introduction discusses the main problems faced by readers of The Temple: its paradoxical religious statements, its apparent lack of unity, its variable poetic voice, and its place in literary history. Chapter 1 argues that The Temple and The Country Parson are complementary: that they may have been written together and considered companionpieces, that they are similar in form and content, and that they should be read together. Chapter 2 places The Country Parson in the genre of the clerical manual, and explains its distinctive form as the influence of various kinds of renaissance prose, including the essay, the professional handbook, the courtesy book, the prose character, and the moral resolve. Chapter 3 provides the first thorough analysis of the prose style of The Country Parson, a style which may be loosely characterized as a combination of Ciceronian and Senecan attributes, but is better thought of as "Anglican" or "poetic." Chapters 4 and 5 apply The Country Parson to the problems faced by readers of The Temple, and describe the Anglican spirituality, pastoral voice, and coherence of The Temple, along with its proper place in literary history.

This dissertation describes the relationship between George Herbert's two principal works, The Temple (1633) and The Country Parson (1651). The introduction discusses the main problems faced by readers of The Temple: its paradoxical religious statements, its apparent lack of unity, its variable poetic voice, and its place in literary history. Chapter 1 argues that The Temple and The Country Parson are complementary: that they may have been written together and considered companionpieces, that they are similar in form and content, and that they should be read together. Chapter 2 places The Country Parson in the genre of the clerical manual, and explains its distinctive form as the influence of various kinds of renaissance prose, including the essay, the professional handbook, the courtesy book, the prose character, and the moral resolve. Chapter 3 provides the first thorough analysis of the prose style of The Country Parson, a style which may be loosely characterized as a combination of Ciceronian and Senecan attributes, but is better thought of as "Anglican" or "poetic." Chapters 4 and 5 apply The Country Parson to the problems faced by readers of The Temple, and describe the Anglican spirituality, pastoral voice, and coherence of The Temple, along with its proper place in literary history. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Boston University / Problem. The purpose of the dissertation is to discuss the place of George Herbert (1593-1633) in the history of the Christian Church in England. With the revival of interest in and appreciation of the metaphysical poets, the name of George Herbert has taken a recognized place in the list of English authors, and his contribution to English literature is acknowledged increasingly. On the other hand, his role in Church history has never adequately been assessed. His theological and ecclesiological position often has been misrepresented gravely, and as a result his English poems, all of which deal with religious subjects, have been misunderstood to some extent by many. The dissertation is not a study of George Herbert considered primarily as a literary artist. It does not attempt to make a literary analysis of his poems, nor does it look for evidences of purely literary influence, except where data of this kind contribute directly to understanding his religion or his place in the Church. George Herbert's religious devotion is for us totally bound up in his poetry, and his attitude toward his poetic gift is at its root religious. Therefore a study of this kind cannot avoid all literary questions, and it refers constantly to his poetry. But what is attempted is an historical view of Herbert's place in English religious life and not a criticism of his poetry and prose. [truncated]

I intend In this thesis to examine some central features of George Herbert's art - aspects of his imagery syntax and metrics. These topics have been chosen because they encompass large areas of his poetic practice, ramifying as they do into questions of theme, tone and structure. Even a partial. survey of Herbert' s imagery, such as the one I attempt to offer, should enable the reader to judge the range of experience that Herbert brings to bear upon a comparatively circumscribed number of themes, (The "Affliction " poems, for example, are wonderfully diverse, although they have a common thematic centre). A brief examination of the traditions within which Herbert's manipulation of imagery falls should allow one also to judge his resourcefulness, especially in the composites of emblem and symbol he devises on occasion; which in the concluding analyses I attempt to show the structural significance of image patterns in representative poems from The Temple. Thus Chapter I falls into three sections: a brief discussion of emblematic and symbolic traditions together with Herbert 's place in relation to them, a deliberately selective glance over some images (a full examination is far beyond the scope of this thesis), and finally some close analyses of poems in the course of which I try to show the imagery operating as a structural and coordinating device. In Chapter II, I move on to the closely related area of syntax, examining Herbert's formulation of his material, and finding - amongst other things - that there is evidence of "grammatical" imagery where the disposition of a sentence provides a concrete embodiment of the theme. This interrelationship of imagery and syntax (and of imagery and metrics) is a corollory of poetry's organic nature, and in order to stress the mutual collaboration of these features, I have subjected a single poem, "The Flower" to an analysis from three different angles, assuming that each approach will further illuminate the others. All the lyrics would yield riches if treated in this way but my limits of space have naturally precluded so elaborate an undertaking. Even In the analyses of poems that are treated only once, I have been at pains to allow in a glimmering of topics other than that in hand, so as to enlarge the scope of my examination. Although the material in Chapter II is designed to highlight the structural, tonal and thematic effects of syntax in turn, such divisions remain theoretical rather than actual, for they combine almost indivorcibly into a complex whole. Chapter III is patterned like Chapter I in that it moves from a general survey of Herbert's metrics, his rhyme and his stanzaic design, to further close analyses of his metrical procedures in particular lyrics. Both here and in the preceding chapters I have undertaken to look at Herbert's work in close detail, because, as I have already suggested, his is an art of compression, of telescoping a whole range of meanings into the neatest and most compact shape. Given the differences in mode and intention, his poetry often puts one in mind of Jane Austen's fiction - at least in the profundity it achieves within a consciously limited scale and a critical magnifying glass seems to me to be the most apposite aid for such a study as I have undertaken.

The thesis examines the paradoxes in Herbert's poetry and attributes the many contradictions and vacillations within The Temple to Herbert's own "spiritual conflicts" as a Christian poet. The thesis explores the poems as interconnected expressions of Herbert's dual nature as Christian-Poet. The thesis discusses over sixty of Herbert's poems, concentrating on close readings and intratextual connections. Chapter One reviews critical approaches to Herbert's poetry and outlines the study. Chapter Two examines Herbert's life and the expression of his struggles in poetry. Chapter Three discusses Herbert's poetry itself and comments on the deceptively simplistic style. Chapter Four explores the conflict between the worlds of the Christian and the poet. Chapter Five concludes that, more than merely an artistic exercise or catechistic tool, Herbert's poetry accurately records the duality of the poet's spiritual journey.

This dissertation proposes that George Herbertʾs poetry may profitably be understood as a sacramental means by which the divine is made present in temporal existence. In order to support this claim, the relation between sacramental symbolism and literary symbolism, particularly Herbertʾs, is examined from a number of perspectives. The symbolic meanings suggested by Herbertʾs title (The Temple), and their relation to sacramentalism are considered in the opening chapter. This includes a consideration of some of the background to the analogical thinking prevalent in both the seventeenth-century and Herbert. It is followed in the second chapter by an examination of some of the modern theories about how literary symbolism may relate to sacramental symbolism, a discussion which is followed by a consideration of this dissertation's argument in relation to modern scholarship. The chapter ends with a reading of ʺThe Flowerʺ. The third chapter discusses the poet's attempt to imitate the divine by ʺcopyingʺ both Scripture and Nature, and this includes a consideration of the allegorical and hieroglyphic modes of thought prevalent in the poems. The concern with imitation encourages an examination of the poet's frequent invitation for God actually to assume the poet's role, and this is the subject of the fourth chapter. The argument suggests that the poet's attempt to ʺsacrificeʺ his own writing may be seen in his concern with corporate imagery and corporate (impersonal) structures. The five ʺAfflictionʺ poems are examined as examples of the first, while structures such as synecdoche and metonymy are examined as examples of the second. The final chapter considers aspects of narrative time in the poems, particularly the sense often evoked of the eternal being imminent in the present. This involves a consideration of both liturgical imagery, and what may be called liturgical structures as they can be seen to operate in the poems. Particular examples of the latter are the relation between the liturgical anamnesis and the poems, as well as certain narrative structures that may be called ʺachronisticʺ.