REJOICE in TRIBULATIONS: the AFFLICTIVE POETICS of EARLY MODERN RELIGIOUS POETRY by THOM DAWKINS Submitted in Partial Fulfillme
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REJOICE IN TRIBULATIONS: THE AFFLICTIVE POETICS OF EARLY MODERN RELIGIOUS POETRY by THOM DAWKINS Submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY August, 2019 CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES We hereby approve the thesis/dissertation of Thom Dawkins candidate for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Committee Chair Prof. Christopher Flint Committee Member Prof. Maggie Vinter Committee Member Dr. Erika Olbricht Committee Member Dr. Timothy Wutrich Date of Defense June 7, 2019 *We also certify that written approval has been obtained for any proprietary material contained therein. ii Table of Contents Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................iv Abstract................................................................................................................................v Epigraphs...........................................................................................................................vii Introduction..........................................................................................................................1 Chapter 1: 'My filthy fault, my faulty filthiness': The (Re)Birth of Afflictive Poetics in the Sidney Psalmes...............................................29 Chapter 2: And How By Suffering She Could Conquer More: The Virtues of Affliction in Aemilia Lanyer’s Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum.....................79 Chapter 3: “My meditation is fearefully transferred”: Afflictive Poetics and Irresolution in John Donne’s Devotions upon Emergent Occasions..............................................................................126 Chapter 4: ‘Therefore my sudden soul caught at the place’: The Reciprocal Poetics of Love and Affliction in George Herbert’s The Temple...........158 Conclusion: To Counter the Oblivion of Darkness..........................................................186 Appendix: Note on Texts and Translations.....................................................................193 Bibliography....................................................................................................................196 iii Acknowledgments I would like to first and foremost thank the members of my committee, whose keen attention and seemingly unlimited patience made this dissertation possible. Prof. Christopher Flint has been invaluable in his role as chair, constantly urging me to clarify the significance of my work and meticulously combing through chapters to ensure that each page has equal clarity. Dr. Erika Olbricht inspired me to work on early modern English poetry — and women poets in particular — and I am unspeakably grateful for the support that she has given me through this process. I have benefitted immensely from working with Prof. Maggie Vinter, who has provided an astoundingly generous amount of attention and feedback, dating back to my enrollment in her graduate seminar. Her own work has also been a giant source of inspiration. I would also like to thank those colleagues who have spent so many hours reading drafts and providing encouragement, including especially Dr. Steve Pinkerton, Dr. Arthur Russell, Dr. Denna Iammarino, and Dr. Gabrielle Parkin. Thank you, as well, to my parents, who always believed that I had it in me. Finally, and most importantly, I would like to thank Alexa for her enduring and unceasing love and support, and Sophia for being my endless, loving source of useful distraction. I could never have done this without you two. iv Rejoice in Tribulations: The Afflictive Poetics of Early Modern Religious Poetry Abstract by THOM DAWKINS The English Renaissance was literary, ecclesiastical, and charged with references to afflictions, both physical and spiritual. Yet while it is often central to religious doxology and instruction, affliction is not an art that can be monopolized by a single religious doctrine or denomination. It was possible, in other words, for early modern English poets to turn to both Catholic and Protestant predecessors for an understanding of spiritual affliction, despite the dramatic religious, political, and social upheavals that came before. In the psalm translations of Sir Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; the Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum of Aemilia Lanyer, the Devotions upon Emergent Occasions of John Donne, and The Temple of George Herbert, these poets attended to a nexus of suffering and artistic expression in order to lead their readers toward theological instruction. They do so through what I call an “afflictive poetics,” a rhetorical mode in which the poet offers this theological instruction through a series of poetic forms, figures, and perspectives that depend upon a demonstration of spiritual and physical or physiological suffering. These works were all written or published in roughly the period between 1580 and 1633, beginning with the writing of Sidney’s Defence of Poesy and ending with the posthumous publication of Donne’s Poems and Herbert’s v Temple. Despite all being nominally Protestant, the poets examined in this dissertation represent a broad spectrum of religious beliefs and practices. In arguing for the importance of afflictive poetics, I join the continuing “religious turn” in early modern literary studies, particularly in the branch that recognizes the ambiguity of confessional categories and attends to the experience of the individual believer. In doing so, I tend to eschew debates focused on denominational, doctrinal, and doxological disputes, which often robs us of the richness of the poetry and the relationship that develops between the poets and their readers, not to mention between the poets and a divine addressee. Both Catholic and Protestant models of devotion are visible in the works examined here, and both traditions were most assuredly “in the air” and available to the poetic imagination. vi Poesy, therefore, is an art of imitation, for so Aristotle termeth it in the word mimesis, that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting or figuring forth – to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture – with this end: to teach and delight. (Philip Sidney, The Defence of Poesy, 1595) Then being justified by faith, we have peace toward God through our Lord Jesus Christ. By whom also through faith we have had this access into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice under the hope of the glory of God. Neither that only, but also we rejoice in tribulations, knowing that tribulation bringeth forth patience. And patience experience, and experience hope. And hope maketh not ashamed, because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost, which is given unto us. (Romans 5: 1-5, 1599 Geneva Bible) vii Introduction: The Afflictive Poetics of Early Modern Religious Poetry Affliction and Friction: Catholics and Protestants In this dissertation, I explore the work of several poets who attend to the nexus of suffering and artistic expression in order to lead their readers toward theological instruction. I do so through what I call “afflictive poetics,” a mode of writing that uses various poetic forms, figures, and perspectives based in spiritual and physical or physiological suffering.1 In each chapter of this dissertation, I examine representative poets who bridged a literary / ecclesiastical divide that had prevented Protestant writers from drawing effectively on the Catholic imagination: Sir Philip Sidney and Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke; Aemilia Lanyer; John Donne; and George Herbert. These authors all wrote and published various poetical works between 1580 and 1633, a period framed by Sidney’s Defence of Poesy and the posthumous publication of Donne’s Poems and Herbert’s Temple. During this time, England was reigned successively by Elizabeth I (1558-1603), James I (1603-1625), and Charles I (1625-1649), and early modern poets inherited a very long history of impassioned religious change that was central to the production of these texts. I have also chosen to end the selected period in 1633 because it was the year in which Herbert died and William Laud was appointed Archbishop of Canterbury by Charles I. Laud’s Arminian theology represented a return to Catholicism, and his appointment signaled a break with the Protestant Reformation that was one of many events leading to the English Civil Wars, the execution of Charles I, and the installment 1 I take physical to mean any suffering that is felt externally or delivered from an external source, while physiological suffering refers to any afflictions felt or perceived internally. of the Protectorate under Oliver Cromwell. One might therefore characterize this as a period of tumultuous but formative change in the English Protestant Reformation, ultimately fomenting the Pre-Civil War debates. Despite all being nominally Protestant, the poets examined in this dissertation represent a broad spectrum of religious beliefs and practices. The Sidneys, for example, remained steadfastly Protestant, and Philip’s fervent inflexibility sometimes stoked the ire of Elizabeth I. Aemilia Lanyer, on the other hand, was born to a Venetian family, and her Salve Deus Rex Judaeorum shows signs of medieval Catholic depictions of the Crucifixion. And much critical ink has been spilled over doctrinal and doxological questions concerning John Donne and George Herbert. This is particularly true for Donne, who may have retained some Catholic belief