University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 7-1957 The Rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor's Prose: Dispositio in the Winter Sermons Robert Mashburn University of Tennessee - Knoxville Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Theatre and Performance Studies Commons Recommended Citation Mashburn, Robert, "The Rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor's Prose: Dispositio in the Winter Sermons. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 1957. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/3197 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Robert Mashburn entitled "The Rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor's Prose: Dispositio in the Winter Sermons." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Theatre. Robert L. Hickey, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Paul L. Soper, Alwin Thaler Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) July 12, 1957 To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Robert Mashburn entitled •The Rhetoric of Jeremy Taylor's Prose: Dispositio in the Winter Sermons." I reca.mend that it be accepted lor nine quarter hours of credit.in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts, with a major in Speech and Theatre.Arts. ��jOr ProfeSsor � We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: � / ,� /. � .,..... "'t.__ &.t.- 7Lbae< Accepted for the Council1 THE RHETORIC OF JEREMY TAYIDR1 S PROSE: DISPOSITIO IN THE WINTER SERMONS .A THESIS Submitted to The Graduate Council of The University of Tennessee in Partial Fulfillmen:t of the Bequirem.ents for the degree or Master of Arts by Robert Mashburn .lugust 1957 ACKNOWLEDGMENT I welcome thie opportunity to express my gratitude to Dr. Robert L. Hicke7, at whose euggeetion thia •tudy vas undertaken and under whose encourageMnt it was brought to completion, and to Dr. Paul L. Seper, for aa aieting me in the iaprove•nt of my all too illper!ect at7le , and to Dr • .Uvin Thaler, for reacii.Dg the manuscript and offering valuable constructive criticiaa. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER P.A.GE PREFACE . I. THE BACKGROUND OF THE SUNDAY SERMONS • • • • • . • • l Taylor and the rhetorical tradition • • • • • • • • 1 Formal education • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 1 Protege of Laud • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 5 Chaplain-in-ordinary to the king • • • • • • • • • 7 At Golden Grove • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 9 The last scene • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 12 The. seventeenth century sermon • • • • • • • • • • • 14 Anglo-Catholics • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 18 other Anglicans • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 23 Puritans •••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 30 II. DISPOSITIO OF THE WINTER-SERMONS • • • • • • • • • • • 34 The meaning of dispositio • • • • • • • • • • • • • 34 The framework • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 41 Major divisions • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 42 Subdivisions • • • • • • •• • • • • • • • • • • • • 45 Topic sentences • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 48 The parts of speech • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 49 Adaptability • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 54 Subject1 theme1 and title • • • • • • • • • • • • 54 Introduction • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 59 iT CHAPTER PAGE II. (continued) The development • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 66 The conclusion • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 11 III. CONClliSION • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 81 BIBLIOGRAPHY • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 84 APPENDIXES • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 89 APPENDIX A • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 90 APPENDIX B ••• • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • 93 PREFACE This thesis is a critical analysia of Jeremy Taylor's :method of arrangement in his Twenty-five Sermons ·Preached at Golden Grove; for the Winter Hal!-zear. Ita initial purpose ia to determine how he organized his material for the best possible effect. Its ultimate aim is to open n•w avenues for atudying the artistic prose of Taylor. The fulfillment of both these ends should contribute to the discover,y of an aspect of Taylor's rhetoric that is too often given secondar,y eon- aideration, or neglected altogether, in favor of a stu� of his orna­ mentation, or elocutio. An investigation of Taylor's prose usuallJ revolves around the contradiction that exiete between the opinions of MOrria Croll, Who classes Taylor as a writer of the loose Senecan 1 2 school, and logan. Pearsall Smith and :William Fraser Mitchell,3 'Who follow Sir William Edmund Goaeek in considering hill. a Ciceronian with a maateey of two at;ylea, the plain and· the ornate. However, thie in- vestigation is offered in the belief that it can show another aspect in Ta;ylor1s rhetoric aa artistic as his elocutio, and with the hope lxorria w. Croll, "The Baroque Style in Prose," Studies in liah Philolo in Honor or Frederick KlaeberI ed. by Kemp Malone Minneapo at Diversity of Minnesota 929), PP•· 453-5k. 2Logan Pearsall Smith, "Introduction,• The Golden Grove Sermons and Writings of Jer!lll Taylor (Oxfords· Clarendon Preae, l930)1 p. xxix. 3wil.liaa Fraser Mitchell, Jincliah Pulpit Oratory .f'roa Andrewea to Tillotson (New York: MacmillaD, 1932), P• 253. � . liwuua. Edmmd Gosse, Je Taylor (English Hen of Letters) (London: Macmillan, 1903), pp. 1o�2,�2b-2 7 . will study of how Taylor that it stilmlate further interest in the organization& •For bridled his eloquent expresaion b7 functional it not what how we it," as is only o! consequence we say, and say �intilian •but it.•5 states, alao Where we aay The a fair representation of the Winter Sermons are not only texts, that range of subject•, Tariety of and methods of divisions work but a o of (that are typical of Taylor'• ls the Golden Grove prose is, works Taylor for the Earl and of the wrote Countess Carbery), on which of of most the discussions orna.entation are grounded.6 Further- a ie more, since these sermons are ser s or eompoaitions of the same kind, they of are the best selections to determine what methods his organization individualize prose. sermons is an Preceding the analysis of these introductory chapter, which, b.f the rhetorical that to showing influences helped Taylor1s Which his fashion prose and the circumstances under worka were dica io of that diap i i will produced, giTes some in t n the importance os t o his haTe in sermons. of Oratorz, trans. by J.· s. (Londona5Quintilian1a and Institutes l909), I, 177. Watson George Bell Sons, 6see by H. of J !'!lll diss. Sisterof Salome .Antoine, The Rhetoric D. e Taylor1a Proaea Ornamentef America the Sundat Sermons (Washington, C.a Catholic UniTeraity Preaa, 946). Sister Salome Antoine to that Ta was a plain a y e . seeks prove ylor uster of the t l vii The etu� is based on the Heber and Eden edition of Taylor's works. For convenience a table of the sermons, with the aerial numbers, pages, titlea, and texta, as they appear-in Volume IV of thia edition, is placed in Appendix A. CHAPTER I THE BACKGROUND OF THE SUNDlY SERMONS Taylor's rhetorical skill was a result of his training in Latin COBipOiition, his reading in the classiee and the Fatherm, and his inte- rest in both the theoretical and practical aspect• of conte:mpor&rT preaching. These influences are reviewed in the fol�owing pages. Taylor and the Rhetorical Tradition Formal Education 1. In the Grammar School. Dr. Stephen Perse, Fellow of Caius College, Cambridge, when he died, lett his lllOney to found a tree grammar school. � the terms of his will, one hundred boys were to be admitted. Among the first group to enter Perse Grammar School in 1619 1 was Jeremy Taylor, mo was then aix years old. Taylor had alreaq started his studies before entering Perse. He wrote to the head of Caiua that he was "aoley grounded in grammar and mathmetics" by his 2 rather. There are no recorda or hia progreas or of his course of atudies while at Perae1 but he probab� followed tradition by studying J lc. J. Stranka, The Lite ed Writ a of er s.P.C.K., 1'52), p. )0. eber1 Life, Works, I, 3- , seems to have been ignorant or the date when the Perae School was founded. w.hen no other reference ia given, biographical information in this chapter ia taken from Heber and Eden, •Lite of Jere� Taylor," The w.hole Works of J - l the Right Rev•. ereJD;y Taylor, I, i cccix, and Gosse, JereJV Tay or. 2 Stated in a letter to Batchcroft, Master or Caius College, quoted by Heber and Eden, The Works, I, xiii. 2 3 Lil.l71s Gr8.JIDDB.r. This book was the foundation of al l that followed. Hoole includes it in ever,y form !or the atudenta.4 It prepared Taylor for the intelligent •reading of' the good authors who had withstood the test of' the ages.•$ He also learned to imitate these authors. Brins- ley, in the 8chie.f'e pointa a�d at, and hoped to be effected" by hie book, inatructa the students •to imitate and express Ovid or Virgil, as you ahall h&rd.J¥