Herbert’s Neatness

What is it about?

This introductory chapter situates Herbert's commitment to poetic neatness within two general contexts. First, it shows that Herbert participated in an interpretive tradition in which spiritual reading is participatory in the sense that the reader remains fully immanent within the horizon of divine revelation. From this perspective, the significance of scripture evolves or adapts according to person, time, and place. Second, in developing this approach to biblical revelation, Herbert reacted against what was perceived in the period as an emerging eclipse of mystery. Viewed in these contexts, Herbert’s pursuit of poetic neatness appears as a sustained attempt to negotiate two competing impulses within post-reformation thought: the impulse to certainty, assurance, and security and the impulse to mystery, wonder, and wise ignorance.

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