Utmost Art: Complexity in the Verse of George Herbert

George Herbert has always been regarded as a man of singular piety and a poet of uncommon technical ability. Until recent times, however, he was usually thought to have written prosodically ingenious but conceptually thin verse. Mary Ellen Rickey, through a close examination of Herbert’s poetry, reveals the high concentration of ideas in his verse and the richness of his imagery. Mary Ellen Rickey is an associate professor of English at the University of Kentucky. She is author of Rhyme and Meaning in Richard Crashaw.https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_english_language_and_literature_british_isles/1049/thumbnail.jp