This reading of George Herbert’s poetry takes advantage of contemporary philosophical reflection on the givenness of being and of language. The book presents George Herbert’s poetic sequence, The Temple, as the poet’s response to a call which originates in the Word made flesh and at the same time resounds within the depths of an individual self. The focus of this analysis falls on the essential «Englishness» of Herbert’s poetry and its material weight: its visual concreteness, its musical harmonies, and its attention to human flesh made (English) word.

Ma?gorzata Grzegorzewska is a Professor of English Literature at the Institute of English Studies, University of Warsaw. She has published extensively on Shakespeare and the Metaphysical Poets as well as on the connections between literature and philosophy (Kierkegaard, Marion, Henry).