Quantitative and qualitative approaches to early‐modern networks: The case of George Herbert (1593–1633) and his imitators

Abstract

AbstractDuring the last two decades, studies of early‐modern networks (whether literary, social, religious, or intellectual) have often used the analytical concept of the network as a convenient metaphor. As a result, studies have not always recognized the benefits of analysing these structures through the methodologies of network analysis. The theoretical approaches and tools of network analysis have been employed in disciplines including social sciences, but only recently have scholars explored the usefulness of such quantitative methodologies within literary‐historical studies. Using a case study of the network of imitators surrounding the devotional poet, George Herbert, this essay reconsiders scholarly approaches to early‐modern literary and intellectual networks. It demonstrates how, when combined with qualitative data from textual analysis, the visual and mathematical tools of quantitative network analysis offer new ways of understanding the configurations of such groups. By moving away from using the term “network” as a metaphor, the essay shows how the perspective provided by quantitative network analysis can complement more familiar scholarly approaches of close textual analysis. Ultimately, its explication and application of these combined qualitative and quantitative research methods challenges scholars to consider how appropriating scientific methods from the field of network analysis can provide answers not only to questions about social relationships but also about questions of aesthetic practices and influence within early‐modern texts.