Visionary Philology: Geoffrey Hill and the Study of Words (Oxford English Monographs)

Interviewed in 1966, Geoffrey Hill said,'Language contains everything you want - history, sociology, economics: it is a kind of drama of human destiny'. This book shows how the work of one of the major post-war writers in English has been charged by a mythological sense of language's historical drama, by reading the whole body of Hill's poetry from sixty years against a tradition of visionary poet-philologists that he himself has delineated. That line runs from the present-day editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, through Gerard Manley Hopkins and Richard Chenevix Trench in the Victorian era, to Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the early nineteenth century, and ultimately back to Saint Augustine's theory of language. Through detailed close readings of Hill's work and its scholarly inspirations, and extensive fresh archival research, new light is shed upon poetry's relation to lexicography, etymology, and theological understandings of language. Key themes include language's fallenness from prelapsarian origins, its infection and enrichment by original sin and error, the possible recovery of its pristine origins through surrogates such as music, Hebrew, or the language of angels, and its status as an arena of political and historical contestation. The book considers a wider range of Hill's writings, in greater detail, than criticism of his work has so far done, and it is the first to make substantial use of recently available archive materials. It thereby presents one of the fullest and most authoritative accounts of the work of a living writer in recent years. Interviewed in 1966, Geoffrey Hill said, 'Language contains everything you want - history, sociology, it is a kind of drama of human destiny'. This book shows how the work of one of the major post-war writers in English has been charged by a mythological sense of language's historical drama, by reading the whole body of Hill's poetry from sixty years against a tradition of visionary poet-philologists that he himself has delineated. That line runs from the present-day editors of the Oxford English Dictionary, through Gerard Manley Hopkins and Richard Chenevix Trench in the Victorian era, to Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the early nineteenth century, and ultimately back to Saint Augustine's theory of language. Through detailed close readings of Hill's work and its scholarly inspirations, and extensive fresh archival research, new light is shed upon poetry's relation to lexicography, etymology, and theological understandings of language. Key themes include language's fallenness from prelapsarian origins, its infection and enrichment by original sin and error, the possible recovery of its pristine origins through surrogates such as music, Hebrew, or the language of angels, and its status as an arena of political and historical contestation. The book considers a far wider range of Hill's writings, in far greater detail, than criticism of his work has so far done, and it is the first to make substantial use of recently available archive materials. It thereby presents one of the fullest and most authoritative accounts of the work of a living writer in recent years. Cover 1 Visionary Philology: Geoffrey Hill and the Study of Words 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgements 10 List of Abbreviations 12 Introduction 14 1: The Oxford English Dictionary 20 HILL’S WORDS AND THE OED 20 HILL, HOPKINS, AND THE OED 38 2: Richard Chenevix Trench 53 3: Coleridge’s Philosophy of Language 86 LIVING POWERS 86 AGAINST THE EMPIRICISTS 102 4: Plain Speaking, Etymology, Diligence, and Order 113 PLAIN SPEAKING AND ETYMOLOGY 113 KEYWORDS: DILIGENCE AND ORDER 129 5: The Theology of Language I: Sin and Fall 146 ‘TERRIBLE ABORIGINAL CALAMITY’ 151 ‘HOMO INCURVATUS IN SE’ 155 ‘THE SPECIFIC GRAVITY OF HUMAN NATURE’ 161 INFECTION, IMPERFECTION 163 GRAMMAR AND THE FALL 166 6: The Theology of Language II: Prelapsarian Language 174 WORDS AND THINGS 174 THE LANGUAGE OF ANGELS 178 BABEL AND PENTECOST 185 HEBREW 189 Bibliography 202 WORKS BY GEOFFREY HILL 202 Published Writings 202 Archive Sources 203 Other Works 205 Index 212 'visionary Philology' Combines Nuanced And Incisive Close Reading Of The Poetry Of Geoffrey Hill With Detailed Scholarship And Fresh Archival Work, Examining Hill's Work In Relation To The History Of Language And Of The Study Of Language. Introduction -- Oxford English Dictionary -- Richard Chenevix Trench -- Coleridge's Philosophy Of Language -- Plain Speaking, Etymology, Dilligence, And Order -- The Theology Of Language I: Sin And Fall -- The Theology Of Language Ii: Prelapsarian Language Matthew Sperling. Includes Bibliographical References (pages [189]-198) And Index.