Broken Altars: The Work of Form in George Herbert’s Temple
George Herbert’s collection of poetry is very visibly structured: his famous shape poems are only the most obvious in an entire collection that is cleverly and carefully shaped. While this formality has suggested to some an approach to poetry either rigid and conventional or quaint and fussy, the co...
| Published in: | Christianity & literature |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Johns Hopkins University Press
[2016]
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| In: |
Christianity & literature
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| IxTheo Classification: | CD Christianity and Culture KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBF British Isles |
| Further subjects: | B
Herbert, George, 1593-1633
B POETRY (Literary form) B FORMALISM (Literary analysis) B Poetics B Altars B George Herbert B Formalism B Early Modern B Forme B shape poems |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (lizenzpflichtig) |
| Summary: | George Herbert’s collection of poetry is very visibly structured: his famous shape poems are only the most obvious in an entire collection that is cleverly and carefully shaped. While this formality has suggested to some an approach to poetry either rigid and conventional or quaint and fussy, the content of the poems is far less fixed. It is deep and meditative, doubtful and unsettled. The poet is in pursuit of an emotional or spiritual authenticity he finds elusive, and that seems specifically precluded, even on his own account, by the highly artful forms of his poems. Close attention to this apparent discrepancy between the form and the content of the poetry reveals a richer understanding of the way form works—or the work form does—in Herbert’s spiritual poetics. |
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| ISSN: | 2056-5666 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Christianity & literature
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1177/0148333116677446 |