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Citation/references :Wing (2nd ed.), H1521, &, Wing H-1049; Palmer IV, 12. Printed: 1667 Duodecimo, Nineth edition of the first book, the second volume is Fifth edition Ï â [*â ](-[*1]) ,A- I Kâ ; A-C , A-B ,Câ {tricky but complete] The text of the Temple includes the pattern poems, "The Altar," and "Easter Wings" Herbert's reputation rests on this remarkable collection of poems which mark perfectly the metaphysical tone of his spiritual unrest, which is resolved in final peace, "the Herbert we know through 'Aaron,' 'Discipline,' 'The Collar,' 'The Pulley,' and many other poems in which he strives to subdue the willful or kindle the apathetic self His principal themes are those 'two vast, spacious things Sinne and Love' There is nothing soft in the poet who seeks to engrave divine love in steel; and a catalogue of gratuitous, untempered, and short-lived sweets leads up to the magnificent contrast of the disciplined soul that 'never gives' "As the Anglican merges with the greater poet, so the 'quaint' writer merges with the metaphysical Herbert had his share of the age's passion for anagrams and the like, which Addison was to condemn as 'false wit' But the poet who could shape a poem in the physical likeness of 'The Altar' or 'Easter Wings' had, even more than most of his fellows, a functional sense of meter and rhythm The technical experimentalist and master was, we remember, a skilled and devoted musician The movement of his verse, taut or relaxed, can suggest all his fluctuating moods, from self-will or weakness to joyful surrender and assured strength He moves from this world to the world of the spirit 'As from one room t'another,' or dwells simultaneously in both, and it is in keeping with that habit of mind, and with metaphysical origins in general, that many of his poems should be allegorical anecdotes, transfigured emblems Apart from some of his fine dramatic openings, Herbert does not attempt the high pitch of Donne's 'Divine Poems' His great effects are all the greater for rising out of a homely, colloquial quietness of tone; and peace brings quiet endings- 'So I did sit and eat;' 'And I reply'd, My Lord' Though the friend and admirer of Donne (and of Bacon), Herbert did not cultivate scholastic or scientific imagery; mature and everyday life, the Bible and the liturgy were his chief sources The highest truth, as he said more than once, must be plainly dressed In spite of his classical learning and his Latin and Greek verse, he avoided the common surface classicism of the time Of the elements of a deeper classicism, if we care to use that name, he had muscular density, precision, deceptive simplicity, and a dynamic sense of form At times his structure may be a winding stair, but it is all built of seasoned timber" (D Bush, English Literature in the Earlier Seventeenth Century, pages 137-138). This copy is a very nice and tidy copy bound in 19th century vellum over boards. A very nice copy. Seller Inventory # 689G
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