Love's Transcendence in the Poetry of John Donne, George Herbert and RS Thomas

Looking at some works by Donne, Herbert, and RS Thomas, this lecture explores what it is about the poetic language and form of these ‘Metaphysical Poets’ that lends itself to the expression of the transcendent. Looking at Donne’s use of ‘sympathy’, ‘symphony’ and ‘nearnesse’ in particular, it focuses on how transcendence is a resonance which poetry, and its battle with cliché, reconnects us to, especially when religious or philosophical language fails to surprise or delight.