Theory and Theology in George Herbert’s Poetry

Abstract

In 17th-century England the poet George Herbert became known as ‘Divine Herbert’, his poetry a model for those aspiring to the status of inspired Christian poet. This book explores the relationship between the poetry of George Herbert and the concept of divine inspiration rooted in devotional texts of the time. The book considers three very different treatises read and approved by Herbert: Savonarola’s De Simplicitate Christianae Vitae, Juan de Valdes’s The Hundred and Ten Considerations, and Francois de Sales’s Introduction to the Devout Life. These authors all saw literary production as implicit in a theological argument about the workings of the Holy Spirit. The book goes on to offer a new reading of many of Herbert’s poems, concluding that implanted in Herbert’s poetry are many well-established codes which to a 17th-century readership signified divine inspiration.