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"'''The Altar"''' is a poem by the Welsh-born poet and Anglican priest [[George Herbert]], first published in Herbert's collection ''The Temple''. As an example of [[Concrete poetry#Development|shaped poetry]], its popularity in the 17th century is attested by several imitations and a musical setting.
"'''The Altar"''' is a poem by the Welsh-born poet and Anglican priest [[George Herbert]], first published in Herbert's collection ''The Temple''. As an example of [[Concrete poetry#Development|shaped poetry]], its popularity in the 17th century is attested by several imitations and a musical setting.



==Publication and shape==
==Publication and shape==
''The Temple'', the book in which the poem was first published, was only printed in 1633, after Herbert's death.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/archives/selected_work_16.html|title=Selected Poem - 'The Altar'|publisher=Georgeherbert.org|accessdate=2 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2003/dec/06/featuresreviews.guardianreview31|title=A poet true to himself|last=Cope|first=Wendy|date=5 December 2003|work=The Guardian|accessdate=2 January 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Bart|first=Wasterweel|title=Patterns and Patterning: A Study of Four Poems by George Herbert|year=1984|publisher=Rodopi|location=Amsterdam}}</ref> "The Altar" is the first poem in the section titled ''The Church'' and, along with "Easter Wings", was one of two [[Metaphysical poetry|Baroque]] shaped poems there. The poem represents an altar in its shape on the page and is the second written by Herbert involving altars. The other is shorter and was originally written in Greek.<ref name=dust>{{cite journal|last=Dust|first=Ph.|year=1975|title=George Herbert's Two Altar Poems|journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia|publisher=Leuven University Press|volume=24|pages=278–287}}</ref> This earlier poem provided a model for the later piece and has been referred to as a "meditation and a prayer". It does not resemble the English poem in shape, however.<ref name=dust/>
The typographical form of "The Altar" was inspired by the long line of [[Altar poem|poems in the shape of an altar]] since Classical times.<ref name=typology>{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Jeffrey|year=1987|title=Recreating the Word: Typology in Herbert's "The Altar"|journal=Christianity and Literature|publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd.|volume=37|issue=1|pages=55–65 |doi=10.1177/014833318703700110 }}</ref> Representing an altar in its shape on the page, it was the second poem written by Herbert on the subject. The other was in Greek and had no resemblance to the later poem written in English.<ref>{{cite journal|last=Dust|first=Ph.|year=1975|title=George Herbert's Two Altar Poems|journal=Humanistica Lovaniensia|publisher=Leuven University Press|volume=24|pages=278–287}}</ref>

"The Altar" opens The Church section which appears near the beginning of Herbert's ''The Temple'', following immediately after a liminal Church Porch section and then proceeding to allied themes of sacrifice and thanksgiving.<ref>See the online text of [https://www.logoslibrary.org/herbert/temple/index.html The Temple] at Logos Virtual Library</ref> Though Herbert's collected poems were not published until 1633, it has been argued that this poem was originally written in 1617 at a time when the communion tables that had replaced the former stone structures in Reformed English churches were beginning to be succeeded by stone altars once again.<ref>Jarrell D. Wright, "Altar of Print, Altars of Stone", ''Anglican and Episcopal History'' 91.1 (March 2022), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/27118269 pp. 1-23]</ref>

The manuscript of ''The Temple'' was bequeathed to [[Nicholas Ferrar]] after the poet's death and was published from Cambridge in 1633. In his introduction to the work, Ferrar assured readers that the book came to them as he had received it, "without addition either of support or ornament", although that statement has since been questioned.<ref> A. W. Barnes, "Editing George Herbert's Ejaculations", ''Textual Cultures'' 1.2 (Autumn, 2006), [https://www.jstor.org/stable/30227929?read-now=1&seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents pp. 90-113]</ref> So far as the poem "The Altar" is concerned, capitalization of the whole words Altar and Heart at the start, and of Sacrifice and Altar at the end, does not correspond to how they are written in either of the now surviving manuscripts. Later editions also make the poem's shaped intention clearer in a number of different ways. In the book's 5th edition (1638) an outline was drawn around the poem to emphasize the way in which the layout of the lines corresponds to the shape of an altar,<ref>[https://scalar.usc.edu/maker/english-507/media/facsimile-image-of-the-altar-by-george-herbert Facsimile image], University of South Carolina</ref> and more variations were introduced once publication of ''The Temple'' shifted to London.


The English poem's form was inspired by the long line of [[Altar poem|poems in the shape of an altar]] since Classical times.<ref name=typology>{{cite journal|last=Johnson|first=Jeffrey|year=1987|title=Recreating the Word: Typology in Herbert's "The Altar"|journal=Christianity and Literature|publisher=Sage Publications, Ltd.|volume=37|issue=1|pages=55–65 |doi=10.1177/014833318703700110 }}</ref> Over the course of the poem's republication, the altar's shape has been altered to reflect later ecclesiastical attitudes rather than those at the time of ''The Temple's'' first printing.<ref name=englishlit>{{cite journal|last=Achinstein|first=Sharon|year=2006|title=Reading George Herbert in the Restoration|journal=English Literary Renaissance|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|volume=36|issue=3|pages=430–465 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-6757.2006.00089.x |s2cid=143761848 }}</ref> Some later editions also make the shaped intention clearer by drawing an outline around the text.<ref name=englishlit/>
In the Cambridge editions, the positioning of "The Altar" emphasizes the beginning of The Church section, appearing on the left-hand page opposite the opening of "The Sacrifice". By the London 8th edition of 1670, however, the left-hand side is devoted to the poem "Superliminare" and appears at the foot of a Baroque-style doorway, a design which fills most of the page, illustrating the title's meaning of 'on the threshold'. "The Altar" is now on the right-hand page, framed by a Baroque archway with a substantial stone altar with steps leading to it at its foot. The word Altar only appears capitalized in the title but not elsewhere; in the poem itself the word LORD in the first line is given [[reverential capitalization]] but otherwise only the word HEART in the fifth.<ref>[https://jamesgraybookseller.cdn.bibliopolis.com/pictures/227F_4.jpeg?auto=webp&v=1595443914 Bibliopolis]</ref> By the 10th edition of 1674 the text is uncomfortably constricted within an elaborate archway and with the word heart alone spelt in capitals in the fifth line.<ref>[https://researchmagazine.uncg.edu/wp-content/themes/yootheme/cache/36/bPIC30833-RSH-RMag_S22_%E2%80%93_Herbert_artifacts-050-scaled-36447c4f.webp "A History with Herbert"], UNC Greensboro</ref> It has been argued that these later changes in the poem's presentation reflect ecclesiastical attitudes in the re-established Anglican church after the [[Stuart Restoration]] and even an attempt to re-evaluate the significance of poet's ministry.<ref name=englishlit>{{cite journal|last=Achinstein|first=Sharon|year=2006|title=Reading George Herbert in the Restoration|journal=English Literary Renaissance|publisher=The University of Chicago Press|volume=36|issue=3|pages=430–465 |doi=10.1111/j.1475-6757.2006.00089.x |s2cid=143761848 }}</ref>


==Content==
==Content==

Revision as of 20:30, 8 February 2024

"The Altar" is a poem by the Welsh-born poet and Anglican priest George Herbert, first published in Herbert's collection The Temple. As an example of shaped poetry, its popularity in the 17th century is attested by several imitations and a musical setting.


Publication and shape

The typographical form of "The Altar" was inspired by the long line of poems in the shape of an altar since Classical times.[1] Representing an altar in its shape on the page, it was the second poem written by Herbert on the subject. The other was in Greek and had no resemblance to the later poem written in English.[2]

"The Altar" opens The Church section which appears near the beginning of Herbert's The Temple, following immediately after a liminal Church Porch section and then proceeding to allied themes of sacrifice and thanksgiving.[3] Though Herbert's collected poems were not published until 1633, it has been argued that this poem was originally written in 1617 at a time when the communion tables that had replaced the former stone structures in Reformed English churches were beginning to be succeeded by stone altars once again.[4]

The manuscript of The Temple was bequeathed to Nicholas Ferrar after the poet's death and was published from Cambridge in 1633. In his introduction to the work, Ferrar assured readers that the book came to them as he had received it, "without addition either of support or ornament", although that statement has since been questioned.[5] So far as the poem "The Altar" is concerned, capitalization of the whole words Altar and Heart at the start, and of Sacrifice and Altar at the end, does not correspond to how they are written in either of the now surviving manuscripts. Later editions also make the poem's shaped intention clearer in a number of different ways. In the book's 5th edition (1638) an outline was drawn around the poem to emphasize the way in which the layout of the lines corresponds to the shape of an altar,[6] and more variations were introduced once publication of The Temple shifted to London.

In the Cambridge editions, the positioning of "The Altar" emphasizes the beginning of The Church section, appearing on the left-hand page opposite the opening of "The Sacrifice". By the London 8th edition of 1670, however, the left-hand side is devoted to the poem "Superliminare" and appears at the foot of a Baroque-style doorway, a design which fills most of the page, illustrating the title's meaning of 'on the threshold'. "The Altar" is now on the right-hand page, framed by a Baroque archway with a substantial stone altar with steps leading to it at its foot. The word Altar only appears capitalized in the title but not elsewhere; in the poem itself the word LORD in the first line is given reverential capitalization but otherwise only the word HEART in the fifth.[7] By the 10th edition of 1674 the text is uncomfortably constricted within an elaborate archway and with the word heart alone spelt in capitals in the fifth line.[8] It has been argued that these later changes in the poem's presentation reflect ecclesiastical attitudes in the re-established Anglican church after the Stuart Restoration and even an attempt to re-evaluate the significance of poet's ministry.[9]

Content

Like most others in The Church section of The Temple, "The Altar" is a devotional poem. The three that preceded it had expressed didactic themes. Here the shorter and longer lines are arranged on the page in the shape of an altar and the visual appeal is reinforced by the Baroque conceit of its being constructed from the poet's stony heart to serve as "a broken Altar" that is "cemented with teares", on which he offers himself as a sacrifice. Built into this is an allusion to Psalm 51:17: "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart."[10] In terms of the section's developing theme, the following poem is titled "The Sacrifice". However, that shifts the focus from the poet's personal devotion in "The Altar" by being written as a soliloquy of Jesus on the cross.

Musical settings

Settings of the poem have been infrequent. A 17th century arrangement has been identified as by John Playford as part of his Psalms and Hymns in Solemn Musick of Foure Parts On the Common Tunes to the Psalms in Meter: used in Parish Churches. Also Six Hymns for One Voyce to the Organ (1671). In her study of it, Louise Schleiner comments on how the composer endeavoured to express its form through the music (1671).[11]

Others followed only centuries later and on different continents. In Australia there was a 1989 a capella choral setting by Becky Llewellyn.[12] An American a capella setting by Nicholas White followed a decade later in 1999,[13][14] and one by Hal H. Hopson in 2009.[15][16] In his 2011 setting for accompanied choir, Roland E. Martin notes that ""The Altar" opens with a choral fugue that symbolizes the building of the altar as the voices are stacked one on top of the other".[17][18]

References

  1. ^ Johnson, Jeffrey (1987). "Recreating the Word: Typology in Herbert's "The Altar"". Christianity and Literature. 37 (1). Sage Publications, Ltd.: 55–65. doi:10.1177/014833318703700110.
  2. ^ Dust, Ph. (1975). "George Herbert's Two Altar Poems". Humanistica Lovaniensia. 24. Leuven University Press: 278–287.
  3. ^ See the online text of The Temple at Logos Virtual Library
  4. ^ Jarrell D. Wright, "Altar of Print, Altars of Stone", Anglican and Episcopal History 91.1 (March 2022), pp. 1-23
  5. ^ A. W. Barnes, "Editing George Herbert's Ejaculations", Textual Cultures 1.2 (Autumn, 2006), pp. 90-113
  6. ^ Facsimile image, University of South Carolina
  7. ^ Bibliopolis
  8. ^ "A History with Herbert", UNC Greensboro
  9. ^ Achinstein, Sharon (2006). "Reading George Herbert in the Restoration". English Literary Renaissance. 36 (3). The University of Chicago Press: 430–465. doi:10.1111/j.1475-6757.2006.00089.x. S2CID 143761848.
  10. ^ Bart Westerweel, Patterns and Patterning: A Study of Four Poems by George Herbert, Amsterdam 1984, p.108
  11. ^ Benjamin Cobb Ebner, A Soul Composed of Harmonies: George Herbert's Life, Writings, and Choral Settings of His English Poetry and Choral Settings of His English Poetry, University of S. Carolina (2014), p. 4
  12. ^ Composer's website with excerpt
  13. ^ J. W. Pepper
  14. ^ A performance on You Tube
  15. ^ Musical score
  16. ^ Excerpt on Sound Cloud
  17. ^ Ebner 2014, p.22
  18. ^ Online performance with orchestra
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