ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the literary and theological implications of the semantic paradox at the heart of innocence through the lens of seventeenthcentury metaphysical poetry. The theological poetry of this period in Britain provides a heuristic but also a meaningful focus for a discussion of the paradoxical features of innocence. The metaphysical poets were immersed in the theological debates of their time and engaged in the collective life of faith, often through the priestly vocation, as in the case of John Donne, George Herbert and Thomas Traherne. The unity of theology and poetry in their work facilitates a discussion of both the literary and theological concerns which are the focus of this book.1
