The Poetry of Religious Sorrow in Early Modern England
The Poetry of Religious Sorrow in Early Modern England
In early modern England, religious sorrow was seen as a form of spiritual dialogue between the soul and God, expressing how divine grace operates at the level of human emotion. Through close readings of both Protestant and Catholic poetry, Kuchar explains how the discourses of 'devout melancholy' helped generate some of the most engaging religious verse of the period. From Robert Southwell to John Milton, from Aemilia Lanyer to John Donne, the language of 'holy mourning' informed how poets represented the most intimate and enigmatic aspects of faith as lived experience. In turn, 'holy mourning' served as a way of registering some of the most pressing theological issues of the day. By tracing poetic representations of religious sorrow from Crashaw's devotional verse to Shakespeare's weeping kings, Kuchar expands our understanding of the interconnections between poetry, theology and emotion in post-Reformation England.
- Illuminates the relations between poetry and theology by examining both Catholic and Protestant texts
- Pays attention to both form and context of poems to reveal the theological background of poetic and rhetorical figures used in the period
- Explores how poetry expresses early modern experiences of faith and religion
Product details
March 2011Paperback
9780521174428
254 pages
229 × 152 × 15 mm
0.38kg
Available
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- 1. The poetry of tears and the ghost of Robert Southwell in Shakespeare's Richard II and Milton's Paradise Lost
- 2. The poetry of tears and the metaphysics of Grief: Richard Crashaw's 'The Weeper'
- 3. The poetry of tears and the metaphysics of grief: Andrew Marvell's 'Eyes and Tears'
- 4. Sad delight: theology and Marian iconography in Aemilia Lanyer's Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum
- 5. Petrarchism and repentance in John Donne's Holy Sonnets
- 6. John Donne and the poetics of belatedness: typology, trauma, and testimony in An Anatomy of the World
- Conclusion.
