"My Senses Live":Sensory Images And Protestant Theology In George Herbert’s The Temple

George Herbert (1593-1633) wrote about God’s love and human-divine relationship with plain words and true affection in his masterwork The Temple that has been established as a model for religious poetry. This dissertation adopts the method of detailed textual analysis and puts The Temple in the context of historical background, especially the intricate religious environment in the 16th and 17th century England. It aims to make a careful study of the sensory images in The Temple, so as to clarify the exact religious position of George Herbert.The dissertation is divided into two parts, and includes eight chapters in total.Part one is introductory which discusses Herbert’s attack on reason, and explains that his anti-reason thinking matches with the standpoint of early Protestant reformers such as Luther and Calvin. The first chapter introduces the rise of rationalism in the 16th and 17th century England, indicates the relation among Francis Bacon, Edward Herbert and George Herbert, and points out that comparatively George Herbert is opposed to the use of abstract reason in the fields of natural world and theology. The second chapter aims to explain that the Protestant Reformation theology is the inner cause of Herbert’s anti-reason position. This part intends to show that Herbert objects the use of reason in theology and turns to depict his God with direct sensory experience.Part two shows that Herbert attaches great importance to individual sensory experience and regards it playing key part in human-divine communication. This part is central for the whole dissertation and has six chapters that investigate the five kinds of sensory image in Herbert’s poetry.The third chapter presents a brief summary of the five senses in the tradition of western literature. It discusses the rank of the five senses, the negative image of the senses as doors of temptation, and the sensory image in English renaissance literature.The fourth chapter discusses the visual image in Herbert’s poetry, wherein the eye-dart-heart metaphor of courtly love tradition, the limit of human eye and the power of God’s eye are described. By studying these visual images, we can draw the conclusion that the Protestant Reformation theology has a great impact on Herbert.The fifth chapter investigates the "Word" and the auditory image in Herbert’s poetry. Herbert lays emphasis on the sense of hearing, which is in accordance with the viewpoint of Protestant reformers. Martin Luther initiates the Protestant theology on the core doctrine of "Justification by Faith" and focuses on the Scriptures so as to draw people’s attention from the eye-catching outer rituals and ornaments of the Catholic tradition to the plain Word itself and man’s heart.The sixth chapter discusses the discourse concerning the sense of taste from two levels. First, the sense of taste is investigated in the material and secular perspective by linking Herbert’s poetry to his social context. The second perspective is spiritual and religious in order to show that most of the taste images are related with the Eucharist. By reading Herbert’s view on Eucharist and by comparing his view with Luther and Calvin, one can judge Herbert’s specific position on the complex religious spectrum at that time.The seventh chapter is about the scent image. First, the chapter gives a brief introduction to the theme of scent, particularly the theme of fragrance in Christian tradition, suggesting that fragrance is closely linked to religious life and has become a symbol of virtue. On the other hand, Herbert not only borrows the connotation of fragrance from the medieval tradition, but also combines it with Protestant theology so that the sweet smell becomes a symbol of Christ who is crucified on the cross just like the pomander broken to give off more scent. Poems such as "The Banquet" and "The Odour" express the uniqueness and exclusiveness when Christ delivers his fragrance to believers, and the denial of human merits, which accords with Protestant Reformation theology.The eighth chapter deals with the tactile image. It mainly investigates the metaphor of "stony heart" which occurs frequently in the The Temple. Human heart becomes hard like a stone, because sin that has its lodge in the heart is hammering it hard. Only God can enter the hard heart to battle the stubborn sin, to soften the hard heart and to build a new temple within. Building a temple within the human heart is a typical Protestant thinking. Meanwhile, this chapter will prove the reasonableness of the name of The Temple, based on the image of the "temple in the human heart".The concluding part of the dissertation investigates the final poem "Love Ⅲ" in the core part of The Temple where all the five senses are presented and the speaker for the first time has an all-round sensual contact with God. The dissertation holds that Herbert’s poetry can be located under the frame of Protestant Reformation theology, the Protestant thinking helps to understand Herbert’s poetry and Herbert’s poetry in return helps to explain the Protestant thinking.The religious position of George Herbert is always what the western Herbert scholars concern about. Which one does Herbert actually belong to, Protestant, Catholic, or the specific compromising Anglican Church? The dissertation here gives the following answer:George Herbert’s religious thought accords with the theology of those Protestant reformers in the Continent, and thus he is a typical Protestant poet.