Comparative Essays on the Poetry and Prose of John Donne and George Herbert : Combined Lights

"This book brings together ten essays on John Donne and George Herbert composed by an international group of scholars. The volume represents the first collection of its kind to draw close connections between these two distinguished early modern thinkers and poets who are justly coupled because of their personal and artistic association. The contributors' distinctive new approaches and insights illuminate a variety of topics and fields while suggesting new directions that future study of Donne and Herbert might take. Some chapters explore concrete instances of collaboration or communication between Donne and Herbert, and others find fresh ways to contextualize the Donnean and Herbertian lyric, carefully setting the poetry alongside discourses of apophatic theology or early modern political theory, while still others link Herbert's verse to Donne's devotional prose. Several chapters establish specific theological and aesthetic grounds for comparison, considering Donne and Herbert's respective positions on religious assurance, comic sensibility, and virtuosity with poetic endings"-- Provided by publisher. Part I. Negative Theology, Political Theory, and the Lyric -- Donne's Negative Theology of the Cross / Kirsten Stirling -- Prayer as Political Theory: Conscience, Sovereignty, and Natural Law in Donne and Herbert / Angela Balla -- Part II. Encounters: Exchange and Collaboration -- Resplendence of Women, Men's Means to Zeal: Fashioning Female Sanctity in Donne and Herbert's Commemoration of Lady Danvers / Anne-Marie Miller-Blaise -- Crossings: Sacramental Signs across the Verse of Donne and Herbert / Kimberly Johnson -- Crucifying Craft: A Donne-Herbert Dialogue / Greg Miller -- Part III. Sin, Salvation, and Assurance -- Extreme Audacity of Penitential Humility: Devotions 10 and the Donne-Herbert Dichotomy / Robert W. Reeder -- Imagining Prayer in Donne's Devotions and Herbert's Poems of Complaint / Kate Narveson -- Recuperating the Incapacities of the Fallen Self in Donne and Herbert: Possibility and Promise / Danielle A. St. Hilaire -- Part IV. Appraisals -- Donne's 'Comedy of Eros' and Herbert's World of Mirth' / Christopher Hodgkins -- The Dot over the i: How Donne and Herbert Close Their Poems / Helen Wilcox -- Appendix: Donne and Herbert's Latin Poems on the Seal of Christ on the Anchor / Catherine R. Freis, Richard Freis, and Greg Miller, trans CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGMENTS INTRODUCTION Part 1 NEGATIVE THEOLOGY, POLITICAL THEORY, AND THE LYRIC 1 • DONNE’S NEGATIVE THEOLOGY OF THE CROSS 2 • PRAYER AS POLITICAL THEORY Conscience, Sovereignty, and Natural Law in Donne and Herbert Part 2 ENCOUNTERS Exchange and Collaboration 3 • “RESPLENDENCE OF WOMEN, MEN’S MEANS TO ZEAL” Fashioning Female Sanctity in Donne and Herbert’s Commemoration of Lady Danvers 4 • CROSSINGS Sacramental Signs across the Verse of Donne and Herbert 5 • CRUCIFYING CRAFT A Donne-Herbert Dialogue Part 3 SIN, SALVATION, AND ASSURANCE 6 • “EXTREME AUDACITY OF PENITENTIAL HUMILITY” Devotions 10 and the Donne-Herbert Dichotomy 7 • IMAGINING PRAYER IN DONNE’S DEVOTIONS AND HERBERT’S POEMS OF COMPLAINT 8 • RECUPERATING THE INCAPACITIES OF THE FALLEN SELF IN DONNE AND HERBERT Possibility and Promise Part 4 APPRAISALS 9 • DONNE’S “COMEDY OF EROS” AND HERBERT’S “WORLD OF MIRTH” 10 • “THE DOT OVER THE I” How Donne and Herbert Close Their Poems APPENDIX Donne’s and Herbert’s Latin Poems on the Seal of Christ on the Anchor NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS INDEX