How are prayer and poetry related for each?
How would you define the differences between Herbert's poetic technique and Crashaw's?  Which do you prefer and why?
How compatible are wit and devotion?
Do these poets challenge you to rethink in any way your own assumptions about the relationship between art and religious piety, or between the spiritual and intellectual realms?

Study Guide on Typology
Vocabulary you should know-- read Rivers for definitions
     type
     antitype
     typology
     four levels of allegorical meaning:  literal, allegorical/typological, tropological/moral, anagogical

Once you've read Rivers for the general definition of biblical types and typology, it will be helpful to consider some additional examples.

Types of the cross or of the crucifixion include:

the Trees of Knowledge and of Life in the Garden of Eden
the sacrifice of Isaac
the Rock of Horeb (which gave forth a spring of flowing water when Moses struck it with his rod)
the brass serpent Moses put on a pole

Noah's Flood
the crossing of the Red Sea
the crossing of the River Jordan, circumcision

          Literal Level of Meaning (Old Testament types)                                    Moral Level of Meaning

People of Israel wandering  in the Desert on their way to Canaan, the Promised Land.	Speaker trying to reach the promised land of Heaven, but discouraged.
First barrier crossed by Israelites in leaving the Slavery of Egypt: The Red Sea.	First barrier crossed by the speaker in leaving behind his own sinfulness:  a sense of shame (it is like the Red Sea because it is associated with blushing)
The punishment for the Israelites' rebellion against God (their grumbling and their idolatry) is that they must wander for 40 years, often heading back toward the Red Sea instead of on into Canaan.	The speaker also feels that he is essentially backtracking; he has lost the joy he previously possessed, his hope that he was getting close to salvation.  No nearer heaven, he is back to feeling only shame.

Stanzas 2-3 elaborate on this basic analogy, saying "Their story pens and sets us down"--that is, Christians' personal histories are prefigured in the written record of the Israelites' history; their story is the contemporary Christian's story; and so by reading about them, a Christian reads about himself.  Even though individual human actions have little significance or reason to be remembered ("A single deed is small renown"), "God's works" have "wide" meaning; his just treatment of the sinful Israelites foreshadows and overlaps his just treatment of Christians: "his ancient justice overflows our crimes."  Thus, the speaker goes on to show, each aspect of the Israelites' desert experience corresponds with some aspect of the Christian's life.

        Literal Level of Meaning (Old Testament types)                                    Moral Level of Meaning

Israelites were guided by a pillar of cloud during the day and a pillar of fire during the night	Christians are guided by the fires and clouds (perhaps referring to trials and tribulations) that God sends to them.
manna fell like dew on the Israelite camp	"Our Scripture-dew drops fast": the Word of God descends from heaven in the scriptures to refresh and nourish Christians.
sands of Sinai, where the Israelites wandered	dry times in the Christian's spiritual life
serpents sent as a plague to punish sinful Israelites	devils' temptations and painful tribulations which Christians must endure.
tents and shrouds (shelters of the wandering Israelites)	temporary shelters of the Christian (perhaps prayers for help in specific situations? or individual denominations, churches, church buildings? that are our temporary home until we make it to Heaven?)
murmurings of the Israelites, who complain, grumble, fight God's will.	Christians also complain and murmur against God; the poem itself (Herbert seems half aware) is a kind of murmuring and complaint.
When the wandering Israelites had drawn near to the Promised Land, they sent spies into Canaan, and these men returned bearing a huge bunch of grapes as evidence of the region's bounty.	"But where's the cluster, where's the taste of mine inheritance?"-- The speaker complains that he has no such foretaste or evidence of the joy awaiting him in Heaven.  "Lord, if I must borrow, / Let me as well take up their joy, as sorrow"--  He feels that he ought to reflect the Israelites' experience in positive as well as negative ways.

In the final stanza, he comes--through a rhetorical question in which the reality dawns on him--to a resolution and a restored sense of joy.  He realizes that as a Christian, he experiences not just the Old Testament types, but their New Testament "antitype" or fulfillment:  Christ.  As a symbol of salvation, bounty, fruitfulness, and nourishment, the Bunch of Grapes in the Old Testament represents Christ, who called himself "the vine" and who gave his blood--in the wine of Holy Communion--as the redemptive drink of believers.  In a passage from the Book of Isaiah (63:3), the prophet says "I have trodden the wine press alone"); this was taken to refer typologically to the suffering of Jesus:  Christ's cross is the wine press, in which he is crushed to yield the wine of redemption.  Thus, the speaker of the poem can say "I have their fruit and more": in the bunch of grapes, the Israelites were given a foretaste of the Promised Land and a type or prefiguration of Christ.  But they never saw the Promised Land: seeing the hugeness of the cluster, they grew afraid, thinking that Canaan must be occupied by giants.  Their murmurings, complaints, and reluctance to enter into the Promised Land were the sins that God punished by making them wander in the desert for forty years.  During that time of wandering,  God gave them the Law, The Old Testament, as their guide; but, the speaker concludes, they never got past the "sour juice" of those rules and regulations to the "sweet wine" of the Gospel, which fulfills and supercedes the Law.  The speaker concludes by saying that the vines and clusters of the Old Testament are God's gift (see the passage about Noah below to explain lines 24-25), but that their "juice," their symbolism, is sour as compared to the fruit of the vine as the Christian experiences it:  that is, the vintage that flows from the winepress of the cross: "God himself being pressed for my sake."

II.  "The Altar"
This is a "shaped poem," in which the arrangement of the type on the printed page reflects the meaning of the language.

1.  Study the design of the poem carefully to see beyond the obvious fact that it is altar-shaped.  Are the gaps in some lines significant, or are they just necessary to fill out the length and maintain the shape?  What other things, besides an altar, might the shape of the poem signify or suggest?
2.  To what extent, aside from the shape, does this poem function as an altar?
3.  Is the speaker the poet?  Explore.
4.  What does it mean to say that the speaker's altar is "Made of a heart"?  How do later lines of the poem explore this idea?
 

Also, note that many of the metaphorical descriptions evoke an ambiguous bi-directional quality:  for example, "Church bells beyond the stars heard" can be both earthly church bells that are heard in heaven, or heavenly church bells heard from earth.

plummet:  plumb line, device for measuring depth
sounding:  measuring depth
Engine:  machine, especially a military machine, a piece of artillery
Christ-side-piercing-spear:  the centurion's lance in the crucifixion scene of the Gospel according to John; the blood and water that flow from the wound are sometimes interpreted as symbolizing the sacraments of Eucharist (Holy Communion) and Baptism.
Manna:  the miraculous bread that fell from heaven to feed the Israelites in the desert; manna is often interpreted by Christians as a "type" or foreshadowing of the Eucharist.

"Jordan (1)"
Both of the "Jordan" poems explore the nature of religious poetry and the challenges faced by the poet who would turn away from fictional, profane subjects to write of God and divine grace.

Jordan: the River Jordan is one of the boundaries of the Promised Land; when the people of Israel reach the Jordan upon their return from Egypt, its waters part miraculously for them to pass over (see Joshua 3: 17), just as the waters of the Red Sea had done at the beginning of their flight.  Their passage across the River thus symbolizes their entry into redemption from slavery and exile.  In the New Testament, St. John the Baptist calls people to repent and baptizes them in the waters of the River Jordan; Jesus's ministry begins when he is baptized by John and the Holy Spirit appears to declare that he is the Son of God (see Luke 3: 21-22).  Thus, when Herbert calls his poems "Jordan," he is not only contrasting his Christian inspiration to that of secular poets who invoke the pagan waters of Mt. Helicon; he is also alluding to his desire to "baptize" poetry, to lead it into the realm of God's grace and to make it serve a Christian purpose.
Become: are becoming to, are appropriate in
pass: be approved
divines: figures out, interprets through difficult analyis
Catching the sense at two removes: Figuring out the meaning through several layers of symbolism and figurative language.

"Jordan (2)"
luster: shine, beauty
quaint:  ingenious, witty (not, as in the modern meaning, "cute")
trim: well-planned, well-crafted
invention:  the basic idea or concept of a poem and/or the way the poet finds to express that basic   idea
Decking:  decorating, dressing-up
blotted: crossed out, inked over
wind: the verb "to wind" (as in a "winding" staircase)

"Virtue"
Note that this is the sacred poet's alternative to a carpe diem poem.  One of the principal techniques Herbert employs in this poem is that of refrain.  The impact of the final line is established partly by the breaking of the refrain-line pattern established in stanzas 1-3.  Compare the poem with several of the secular carpe diem poems we have studied (especially Herrick's "To the Virgins," Waller's "Go, Lovely Rose," and Marvell's "To His Coy Mistress." Who or what is/are the addressee(s) in each case?  Of what does the poem hope to convince the addressee(s) or the reader?

"Love (3)"
slack: hesitant, lethargic
This is a poem about the free gift of grace, especially as it is conveyed by Christ in the Eucharist, the Holy Communion.  How does the allegorical account in the poem capture the soul's experience of that gift?
 

IV.  Richard Crashaw's "The Flaming Heart . . ."

Crashaw was an English convert from Protestantism to Roman Catholicism, and he was deeply influenced by the writings of St. Teresa of Avila, including her autobiography.  Here is a key excerpt from Chapter 29 of that autobiography as translated from the Spanish by E. Allison Peers; the translation is based on the critical edition of the Life by P. Silverio de Santa Teresa, C.D.  Teresa recounts her visions of Christ:

Almost invariably the Lord showed Himself to me in His resurrection body, and it was thus, too, that I saw Him in the Host.
Only occasionally, to strengthen me when I was in tribulation, did He show me His wounds, and then He would appear
sometimes as He was on the Cross and sometimes as in the Garden. On a few occasions I saw Him wearing the crown of
thorns and sometimes He would also be carrying the Cross -- because of my necessities, as I say, and those of others -- but
always in His glorified flesh. Many are the affronts and trials that I have suffered through telling this and many are the fears and
persecutions that it has brought me. So sure were those whom I told of it that I had a devil that some of them wanted to
exorcize me. This troubled me very little, but I was sorry when I found that my confessors were afraid to hear my confessions or
when I heard that people were saying things to them against me. None the less, I could never regret having seen these heavenly
visions and I would not exchange them for all the good things and delights of this world. I always considered them a great favour
from the Lord, and I think they were the greatest of treasures; often the Lord Himself would reassure me about them. I found
my love for Him growing exceedingly: I used to go to Him and tell Him about all these trials and I always came away from
prayer comforted and with new strength. I did not dare to argue with my critics, because I saw that that made things worse, as
they thought me lacking in humility. With my confessor, however, I did discuss these matters; and whenever he saw that I was
troubled he would comfort me greatly.
......................................................................................................
Shortly after this, His Majesty began to give me clearer signs of His presence, as He had promised me to do. There grew within
me so strong a love of God that I did not know who was inspiring me with it, for it was entirely supernatural and I had made no
efforts to obtain it. I found myself dying with the desire to see God and I knew no way of seeking that life save through death.
This love came to me in vehement impulses, which, though less unbearable, and of less worth, than those of which I have
spoken previously, took from me all power of action. For nothing afforded me satisfaction and I was incapable of containing
myself: it really seemed as though my soul were being torn from me. O sovereign artifice of the Lord, with what subtle diligence
dost Thou work upon Thy miserable slave! Thou didst hide Thyself from me, and out of Thy love didst oppress me with a death
so delectable that my soul's desire was never to escape from it.

No one who has not experienced these vehement impulses can possibly understand this: it is no question of physical restlessness
within the breast, or of uncontrollable devotional feelings which occur frequently and seem to stifle the spirit. That is prayer of a
much lower kind, and we should check such quickenings of emotion by endeavouring gently to turn them into inward
recollection and to keep the soul hushed and still. . . .  These other impulses are very different. It is not we who put on the fuel; it seems rather as if the fire is already kindled and it is we who are suddenly thrown into it to be burned up. The soul does not try to feel the pain of the wound caused by the Lord's absence. Rather an arrow is driven into the very depths of the entrails, and sometimes into the heart, so that the soul does not know either what is the matter with it or what it desires. It knows quite well that it desires God and that the arrow seems to have been dipped in some drug which leads it to hate itself for the love of this Lord so that it would gladly lose its life for Him. No words will suffice to describe the way in which God wounds the soul and the sore distress which He causes it, so that it hardly knows what it is doing. Yet so delectable is this distress that life holds no delight which can give greater satisfaction. As I have said, the soul would gladly be dying of this ill.

This distress and this bliss between them bewildered me so much that I was never able to understand how such a thing could
be. Oh, what it is to see a wounded soul -- I mean when it understands its condition sufficiently to be able to describe itself as
wounded for so excellent a cause! It sees clearly that this love has come to it through no act of its own, but that, from the
exceeding great love which the Lord bears it, a spark seems suddenly to have fallen upon it and to have set it wholly on fire.
......................................................................
It pleased the Lord that I should sometimes see the following vision. I would see beside me, on my left hand, an angel in bodily
form -- a type of vision which I am not in the habit of seeing, except very rarely. Though I often see representations of angels,
my visions of them are of the type which I first mentioned. It pleased the Lord that I should see this angel in the following way.
He was not tall, but short, and very beautiful, his face so aflame that he appeared to be one of the highest types of angel who
seem to be all afire. They must be those who are called cherubim: they do not tell me their names but I am well aware that
there is a great difference between certain angels and others, and between these and others still, of a kind that I could not
possibly explain. In his hands I saw a long golden spear and at the end of the iron tip I seemed to see a point of fire. With this he
seemed to pierce my heart several times so that it penetrated to my entrails. When he drew it out, I thought he was drawing
them out with it and he left me completely afire with a great love for God. The pain was so sharp that it made me utter several
moans; and so excessive was the sweetness caused me by this intense pain that one can never wish to lose it, nor will one's soul
be content with anything less than God. It is not bodily pain, but spiritual, though the body has a share in it -- indeed, a great
share. So sweet are the colloquies of love which pass between the soul and God that if anyone thinks I am lying I beseech God,
in His goodness, to give him the same experience.

A famous statue of  St. Teresa in Ecstasy carved by Gianlorenzo Bernini was, like Crashaw's poem, inspired by Teresa's writings and in particular her account (above) of how an angel transfixed her heart with a burning dart.  Some scholars think that Crashaw may have seen one of Bernini's sketches for the statue in its planning stages and that it may be that sketch that he refers to in his poem.

1.  How does Crashaw view the artistic skills and spiritual insight of the "Painter" as compared to those of St. Teresa as a writer?  How is his own skill as a poet related to or contrasted with their skills?

2.  How does Crashaw manipulate and invert gender imagery in trying to explain the power of St. Teresa's writings?

3.  How are love and death united in Crashaw's poem?

4.  How does Crashaw's poetry compare with Herbert's?  With Donne's religious poetry?  Consider particularly their approaches to love, to suffering, and to the link between the two.