Overview

The Reformation changed forever how the sacrament of the Eucharist was understood. This study of six canonical early modern lyric poets traces the literary afterlife of what was one of the greatest doctrinal shifts in English history. Sophie Read argues that the move from a literal to a figurative understanding of the phrase 'this is my body' exerted a powerful imaginative pull on successive generations. To illustrate this, she examines in detail the work of Southwell, Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan and Milton, who between them represent a broad range of doctrinal and confessional positions, from the Jesuit Southwell to Milton's heterodox Puritanism. Individually, each chapter examines how Eucharistic ideas are expressed through a particular rhetorical trope; together, they illuminate the continued importance of the Eucharist's transformation well into the seventeenth century - not simply as a matter of doctrine, but as a rhetorical and poetic mode.

Full Product Details

9781107032736

Table of Contents

Reviews

'[An] illuminating guide to the religious and literary culture of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England.' Times Literary Supplement

'[An] illuminating guide to the religious and literary culture of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century England.' Times Literary Supplement 'Read's monograph reasserts the value of formalist literary study for broader questions in the humanities.' Ryan Netzley, Renaissance Quarterly

'[An] illuminating guide to the religious and literary culture of sixteenth and seventeenth-century England.' The Times Literary Supplement

Author Information

Sophie Read is a University Lecturer in English and Fellow of Christ's College, Cambridge.

Tab Content 6

Customer Reviews

Recent Reviews

Countries Available