{"id":15615,"date":"2014-03-03T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-03T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/leithart.level2d.com\/?p=622"},"modified":"2014-03-03T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-03T00:00:00","slug":"herberts-accessibility","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/","title":{"rendered":"Herbert’s Accessibility"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\u201cWhat kind of an appeal does this have for a reader \u2013 especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert\u2019s theological premisses?\u201d asks Stephen Prickett in his TLS <\/em>review of John Drury\u2019s\u00a0Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of George Herbert<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Coleridge already raised the same point:\u00a0\u201cG. Herbert is a true poet, but a poet sui generis, the merits of whose poems will never be felt without a sympathy with the mind and character of the man . . . . [one should be] a Christian, and both a zealous and an orthodox, both a devout and a devotional Christian. But even this will not quite suffice. He must be an affectionate and dutiful child of the Church.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Prickett notes that Drury\u2019s aim is to counter Coleridge\u2019s claim, and \u201cto argue both that Herbert is much more generally accessible than Coleridge believed, and, so far from being relegated by his subject matter to being a great minor poet, is a major poet, by implication to be judged by the two best traditional criteria: lasting reputation and readership through many changes of fashion; and influence on subsequent poets.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prickett thinks that Drury doesn\u2019t quite succeed at the first aim but does in his second: Drury\u2019s \u201cuse of later poets and critics is one of the greatest strengths of his biography \u2013 and, I believe, establishes beyond doubt Drury\u2019s claim that Herbert is, indeed, a major poet.\u201d<\/p>\n

Along the way, Drury offers insightful readings of Herbert\u2019s poetry. He makes clear that his \u201cchosen way of pondering things was poetry,\u201d and points out that for Herbert this meant an engagement with all the senses, not merely sound but vision.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But, as Prickett notes, the subtlety of Herbert\u2019s pattern poems is not always appreciated: \u201cDrury notes how in \u2018The Collar\u2019 the chaotic form, with neither stable rhyme nor metre, only settles on a structure in the final quatrain, with God\u2019s intervention, which then reshapes our understanding of the previous confused utterances.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pricket suggests that Herbert\u2019s poetry \u201cmarks a shift from poetry as a spoken form to a written one. What is presented as an aural experience, is actually meant to be seen on the page: something both private and interiorized. Herbert\u2019s poetry (like Eliot\u2019s) is here marking changes in consciousness itself.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Which hints that Herbert is perhaps even more <\/em>than a major poet.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cWhat kind of an appeal does this have for a reader \u2013 especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert\u2019s theological premisses?\u201d asks Stephen Prickett in his TLS review of John Drury\u2019s\u00a0Music at Midnight: The Life and Poetry of George Herbert. Coleridge already raised the same point:\u00a0\u201cG. Herbert is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3021,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[300],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15615","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-george-herbert-poetry"],"yoast_head":"\nHerbert’s Accessibility<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Herbert’s Accessibility\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Leithart\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:author\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@PLeithart\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Leithart\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/\",\"name\":\"Herbert’s Accessibility\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\"},\"description\":\"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Herbert’s Accessibility\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/\",\"name\":\"Leithart\",\"description\":\"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d\",\"name\":\"Peter Leithart\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg\",\"caption\":\"Peter Leithart\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Herbert’s Accessibility","description":"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Herbert’s Accessibility","og_description":"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/","og_site_name":"Leithart","article_author":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","article_published_time":"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00","author":"Peter Leithart","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@PLeithart","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter Leithart","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/","name":"Herbert’s Accessibility","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2014-03-03T00:00:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d"},"description":"“What kind of an appeal does this have for a reader - especially one from a post-Christian society like our own-who does not share Herbert’s","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/2014\/03\/herberts-accessibility\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Herbert’s Accessibility"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/","name":"Leithart","description":"My blog is a public notebook, featuring essays, notes, and explorations on Scripture, theology, literature, politics, culture.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/6bb7113e4dd45fe26045622aa56f891d","name":"Peter Leithart","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/f1033df9cd7263d2e0408cf9ee92ee4d?s=96&d=identicon&r=pg","caption":"Peter Leithart"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Leithart\/","https:\/\/twitter.com\/PLeithart"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/author\/pleithart\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3021"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15615\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/leithart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}