ABSTRACT
Cristina Malcolmson uses traditional historical research to delineate the social rituals of upper-class literary coteries. She argues that the religious lyrics of Herbert's Temple did not originate as private meditations but as entries into the poetic debates that characterized his family circle. When George Herbert announced his relationship to the English literary tradition, it was largely a family affair. Sidney, Donne, Edward Herbert, Benjamin Rudyerd and Shakespeare argued for and against secular love, at times by renouncing it for sacred devotion. Hutchinson claims that Herbert's English poems must 'have been circulated in manuscript, as he enjoyed some reputation as a poet many years before his death'. William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, socialized with his clients through the game of literary-exchange, and writers sought to enter the circle through their offerings. George Herbert's 'The Posie' is autobiographical because it refers to the ritual of the answer poem enacted by 'A Parodie' which follows it.
