This discussion of Herbert's poetic sequence, The Temple, explores the connections between poetry, philosophy, and theology. It focuses on the inherent aporias of genuinely gratuitous gift and hospitality. It employs the concepts of the saturated phenomenon and the «dative subject».

This reading of George Herbert's poetry takes advantage of contemporary philosophical reflection on the givenness of being and of language. The book presents George Herbert's poetic sequence, The Temple, as the poet's response to a call which originates in the Word made flesh and at the same time resounds within the depths of an individual self. The focus of this analysis falls on the essential «Englishness» of Herbert's poetry and its material weight: its visual concreteness, its musical harmonies, and its attention to human flesh made (English) word.

Autorentext

Mägorzata Grzegorzewska is a Professor of English Literature at the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw. She has published extensively on Shakespeare and the Metaphysical Poets as well as on the connections between literature and philosophy (Kierkegaard, Marion, Henry).

Klappentext

This reading of George Herbert s poetry takes advantage of contemporary philosophical reflection on the givenness of being and of language. The book presents George Herbert s poetic sequence, The Temple, as the poet s response to a call which originates in the Word made flesh and at the same time resounds within the depths of an individual self. The focus of this analysis falls on the essential «Englishness» of Herbert s poetry and its material weight: its visual concreteness, its musical harmonies, and its attention to human flesh made (English) word.

Inhalt

Contents: Philosophy of donation - Saturated phenomenon - Incarnation - Flesh made word - The voice of another - Word made wound - George Herbert's The Temple - Eucharistic poetry.