In Other Words: George Herbert’s Metaphorical Textures

Abstract

The essay shows how seventeenth-century English poetry faces the ultimate challenge to conceptual metaphor. In a close reading of “Love (3)” and “Easter-wings” it explores metaphysical conceits that appear capable of presenting the unrepresentable by referring allegorically – that is to say, literally ‘in other words’ – to what must by definition remain beyond language: God’s redemptive action in the resurrection.

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