Laudian themes in the poetry of Robert Herrick
Abstract
The poetry of Robert Herrick, particularly his volume of religious poetry, Noble Numbers, is significantly influenced by the theological ideas of Archbishop of Canterbury William Laud, who was Herrick's ecclesiastical superior at the time the religious poetry was composed. Herrick's religious poetry has been considered an inferior work of literature for many years. Its recurring didacticism and seemingly simplistic tone occasioned charges of "childishness," and led many critics of the past to allege an imperfect understanding of the Christian message on Herrick's part, or an imperfect allegiance to the Christian ideas prompted by his particular communion. More recent scholarship has done much to correct this view, but Noble Numbers still draws very little scholarly attention and is still compared unfavorably with Herrick's secular volume of poems, Hesperides. A fuller appreciation of his literary achievement in Noble Numbers requires recognition of Laudian influences in Herrick's work. Laudian influence reveals itself in several of the major thematic concerns of Noble Numbers and portions of Hesperides. Herrick promotes the Laudian claim that the church of England was the true catholic and apostolic church and the rightful inheritor of the vast theological traditions that had grown up from the early days of Christianity; that the king is rightfully temporal head of the church and that a Christian citizen of an earthly kingdom owes the same allegiance to his monarch as he owes to his heavenly ruler; that worship should be liturgical and aesthetically appealing and as such may draw from a variety of sources, even pagan sources, to achieve effect. As the English Civil War draws on, Herrick adopts a declaratory tone and portrays his king, Charles I, in a messianic role; but when the royalists forces are defeated, he changes the tone and language of his poetry to explain the loss in fideistic terms. In all of this, Laudianism is a shaping factor.
Degree
Ph.D.
Advisors
Miller, Purdue University.
Subject Area
British and Irish literature
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