Poetry of Contemplation: John Donne, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, and the Modern PeriodState University of New York Press, 1990 M06 1 - 306 pages This is the first systematic and thorough study of mysticism or contemplation in these three seventeenth-century poets and in three modern writers. It not only clarifies the very confused issue of mysticism in seventeenth-century poetry but also connects seventeenth-century poets with modern literature and science through the contemplative tradition; from the Bible and Plato and Church fathers and important mystics of the Middle Ages through Renaissance and modern contemplatives. The transformative and redemptive power of contemplative poetry or "holy writing" (regardless of genre or discipline) is prominent throughout the book, and the relevance, indeed the vital necessity, of such poetry and of the living contemplative tradition to our apocalyptic modern world is discussed in the last chapter. In this chapter, attention is given to modern science, especially to the new physics, and to philosophical and mystical writings of eminent scientists. |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 83
Page xvii
... the hope that this book will stimulate informed dialog both about contemplation in poetry and about the value of the poetry of contemplation to our lives . I CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITION One of the awful things about writing xvii Preface.
... the hope that this book will stimulate informed dialog both about contemplation in poetry and about the value of the poetry of contemplation to our lives . I CONTEMPLATIVE TRADITION One of the awful things about writing xvii Preface.
Page 1
... things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarna- tion , the present reality is the Incarnation , and nobody be- lieves in the Incarnation ; that is , nobody in your audience . My ...
... things about writing when you are a Christian is that for you the ultimate reality is the Incarna- tion , the present reality is the Incarnation , and nobody be- lieves in the Incarnation ; that is , nobody in your audience . My ...
Page 5
... things of sense , " and acquired those virtues which are the " orna- ments of the spiritual marriage , " its joyful consciousness of the Transcendent Order returns in an enhanced form . Like the prison- ers in Plato's " Cave of Illusion ...
... things of sense , " and acquired those virtues which are the " orna- ments of the spiritual marriage , " its joyful consciousness of the Transcendent Order returns in an enhanced form . Like the prison- ers in Plato's " Cave of Illusion ...
Page 7
... things " ( 131 ) . In the introvertive type , the nuclear characteristic is " the Uni- tary Consciousness , from which all the multiplicity of sensuous or conceptual or other empirical content has been excluded , so that there remains ...
... things " ( 131 ) . In the introvertive type , the nuclear characteristic is " the Uni- tary Consciousness , from which all the multiplicity of sensuous or conceptual or other empirical content has been excluded , so that there remains ...
Page 8
... thing into the complete unity of the indi- vidual object . Contrariwise , introvertive mystical experiences would more likely give rise to a Platonic rather than an Aristotelian metaphysic . In other words , Plato puts emphasis on the ...
... thing into the complete unity of the indi- vidual object . Contrariwise , introvertive mystical experiences would more likely give rise to a Platonic rather than an Aristotelian metaphysic . In other words , Plato puts emphasis on the ...
Contents
1 | |
John Donne | 19 |
George Herbert | 81 |
Henry Vaughan | 129 |
Contemplative Poetry and the Modern Period | 173 |
APPENDIX A Grouping of the Songs and Sonnets | 241 |
Notes251 | 251 |
Works Cited281 | 281 |
Common terms and phrases
Bettenson biblical body chapter characteristics Christ Church consciousness contemplative tradition critics D. H. Lawrence Dame Kind Dark Night death divine poems Donne's Donne's Holy Sonnets Donne's poem ence essential eternal eucharistic Evelyn Underhill Exstasie flesh Galway Kinnell George Herbert God's Gregory of Nyssa grief Group Two poems heart heaven Henry Vaughan Herbert's poetry Holy Sonnet XIV human Illumination imagery Incarnation introvertive Irenaeus John Donne Kinnell Kinnell's language last Adam Lawrence lines lovers means meditation and contemplation Meister Eckhart metaphor modern mystical experience nature paradox Platonic Plotinus pneuma poetic poetry poets prayer psyche Purgation reality realized rebirth regeneration religious Renaissance resurrection sense seventeenth-century sexual shine Songs and Sonnets soul speaker spiritual stanza suggests symbol Temple thee theme thine things thou timelessness tion Traherne transcendent transformation true union University Vision of Dame Vision of Eros W. T. Stace Warren words writes