Prof.JoesGuidetoReadingReligiousPoetry.docVIP

Prof. Joe’s Guide to Reading Religious Poetry: Donne’s “Good Friday 1613: Riding Westward” The 17th century was a time of great religious ferment in England. For most of the previous 100 years, the conflict between Protestants and Catholics had become increasingly severe. Religion was closely bound up with political and social issues of the time. During Henry VIII’s reign, England broke away from the Catholic Church, establishing the Protestant Church of England as the official religion. During Queen Elizabeth’s reign, Catholicism was officially suppressed; attendance at Church of England services was mandatory, and all English subjects were required to sign an oath of allegiance to the Church. Many Catholics continued to hold their religious beliefs, although they were required to do so in secret—discovery likely meant prison. By the time King James I succeeded Elizabeth, there was growing ferment within the Protestant religion itself. Groups of Protestant believers began to splinter off from the official Church, primarily because they felt that the Church under James had become too corrupt. These groups (Methodists, Presbyterians, Baptists, Congregationalists, and dozens of others) were collectively known by the mocking title of “Puritans” because they believed they were returning the Church to a more “pure” state. Befitting the spirit of the times, much of the poetry of the early 17th century had a serious religious element. These poems did not preach; rather, they focused on the relationship between the speaker, as an individaul, and God. The poems explored both the problems and the joys of deep religious faith. English poetry in the Renaissance had frequently been highly personal and focused on the expression of feeling (as we see in the “lyric poetry of desire” and in the sonnet tradition, especially). Poets in the 17th century kept that spirit of “poetry as the expression of desire,” except now the desire being expressed frequently had a rel