Talk:George Herbert

Bibliography

The Bibliography page contains just a few books I have traced through the London Library website - I have read only a couple of them myself. It could probably do with being expanded. Michael Forde Cayley 11:03, 14 April 2008 (CDT)

Shape poetry

Thanks for the help with this article, Michael. One minor quibble, though. Shape poetry (I think there's a technical term for it, though I can't remember what it is) actually stretches back to Greek epigram in the Hellenistic period, and is thought to be an outgrowth of poems inscribed on particular objects. Thus it is not particularly accurate to talk about Herbert's shape poems as anticipating trends in 20th century literature-- though it may be the case that Herbert is one of the first people to write shape poetry in English. If anyone knows about this latter, please let me know. Brian P. Long 11:28, 14 April 2008 (CDT)

You are quite right of course, Brian. I've taken out the reference to anticipating the 20th century. I have a vague recollection that there's a poem by Dylan Thomas which reproduces the shape used in the George Herbert poem I mentioned. I can't recall the usual term for "shape poetry". "Concrete poetry" is a modern offshoot but usually abandons any attempt to make conventional linguistic sense. Michael Forde Cayley 11:53, 14 April 2008 (CDT)