Perfection Proclaimed: Language and Literature in English Radical Religion 1640-1660

Writing with a full consciousness of recent critical approaches, yet avoiding unnecessary jargon, Nigel Smith rightly sees that it is the language of the period which must first be understood as a vehicle for ideas - the literature follows from that linguistic context, and authors are less important...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inBunyan studies Vol. 2; no. 1; p. 89
Main Author Purkis, John
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Newcastle Upon Tyne Northumbria University, Department of Humanities, Faculty of Arts, Design and Social Sciences 01.04.1990
Subjects
British & Irish literature
Bunyan, John (1628-1688)
English language
English literature
Hopkins, Gerard Manley (1844-1889)
Religion
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Summary:Writing with a full consciousness of recent critical approaches, yet avoiding unnecessary jargon, Nigel Smith rightly sees that it is the language of the period which must first be understood as a vehicle for ideas - the literature follows from that linguistic context, and authors are less important as individuals than as examples of a general renewal of vivid expression. The book contains a full discussion of women prophets, and of the influence of translations, both on thought - 'God appeared brighter by Behman' (Boehme) - and on the language - 'finesse' is not quite the same as 'self-hood', but the word was worth trying, even if it has been discarded like the 'thisness' of Gerard Manley Hopkins. Nigel Smith is to be congratulated on making clear the linguistic roots of these writers, for whom 'the apex of experience was communion with God' - a confidence ringed with the aureole of Behmen's shining dawn.
ISSN:0954-0970