The Unique Forms Of Emblem In G.Herbert's Religious Poetry

George Herbert-the main figure of the metaphysical school, praised in his own time and resurrected in the nineteenth century after general neglect, has been highly valued for their piety, a piety thought to be exemplary. Herbert's subject-apparently the relationship of God and man, is such traditional that it might seem idle to inquire into what he actually says, for him the regulations, the forms, the accumulations and customs of the church, are sources of inspiration of spiritual extension and revival. His theme, though sounding dull to most readers, is richly and colorfully expressed by his unique and original employment of emblematic forms.However, at the very beginning of this century the situation was disadvantageous to Herbert. Paul Elmer More , for instance, once relegated Herbert to the status of a humble imitator; George Herbert Palmer, who knew Herbert's verse more intimately than Grierson or More, felt he must apologize for his "minor poet": Who ever ...values literary history will be glad to seek out the gentle and incomplete poet, be willing for a while to dwell dispassionately in his narrow surroundings. It was probably the praise of T.S. Eliot that won for Herbert a serious reading from later twentieth-century critics. Until recently, critics of religious poetry were reluctant to recognize that that poetry depends not merely on faith or feeling but also on an elaborate technical system-his prosody, his puns, his titles, his adaptation of hymn forms and so on, all these are wonderfully used for the purpose of unification of form and theme. But in such special studies of technical topics, few systematically touched on his abundant use of emblem in different poetic styles, though Helen vendler once referred to this regard, he did not make a very precise analysis about it. In order to highlight his theme, Herbert uses various forms in his poems, yet most of which are embodied in the art of Emblem, and these poems, considered together, on the one hand, define one aspect of his attachment to traditional materials.and on the other, his inventive departures from those traditions. My purpose of writing this thesis is to present the uniquely emblematic forms in George Herbert's religious poetry.The whole thesis is divided into four parts:Chapter One mainly analyzes the origin of Herbert's preference of using emblem, meanwhile, enunciates Herbert's "concept of form" and the history of emblem.Chapter Two gives a detailed description of his emblematic art in the form of hieroglyph which constitutes the important part of his religious poems.Chapter Three focuses on his meditative poems which are often exhibited by using emblem and allegory interchangeably.Chapter Four makes a study of Herbert's bent for music in wMch emblem is vocally shown.