Electives, Literature

George Herbert’s Pastoral Poetics

Taught by Dr. Anthony Cirilla
Runs 7/3 – 8/26/23
$225.00 – $399.00
Syllabus

This course will be a sustained examination of Herbert’s masterpiece, The Temple, which he described as “a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus,” in the light of The Country Parson: His Character and Rule of Life, his influential parson’s manual which he regarded as a “mark to aim at” for himself as a pastor. In it he wrote, “A pastor is the deputy of Christ, for the reducing of man to the obedience of God,” teaching “people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not.” This Augustinian premise likewise informs Herbert’s poetics in the Temple, where the familiar space of the church is used to lead the parishioner through the nourishing poetry by which “A verse may find him, who a sermon flies,/And turn delight into a sacrifice.”

Deadline to register: Saturday, June 17th

 

 

ENROLLMENT OPTIONS

Auditing ($225):

participate in readings and live class sessions, but no graded assignments and no course credit

Full course (Full-Time Discount) ($275):

for-credit courses (at least four per term) toward our Certificate or M.Litt in Classical Protestantism

Full course ($399):

individual classes on a for-credit basis; you can later apply them toward a Certificate or Degree

 

ENROLL NOW

Description

This Literature course will be taught by Dr. Anthony Cirilla, and will run from July 3rd through August 26th. The syllabus can be found here.

This course will be a sustained examination of Herbert’s masterpiece, The Temple, which he described as “a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus,” in the light of The Country Parson: His Character and Rule of Life, his influential parson’s manual which he regarded as a “mark to aim at” for himself as a pastor. In it he wrote, “A pastor is the deputy of Christ, for the reducing of man to the obedience of God,” teaching “people by what they understand are best led to what they understand not.” This Augustinian premise likewise informs Herbert’s poetics in the Temple, where the familiar space of the church is used to lead the parishioner through the nourishing poetry by which “A verse may find him, who a sermon flies,/And turn delight into a sacrifice.”

Dr. Anthony G. Cirilla is an Associate Professor of English at College of the Ozarks. He is also associate editor of Carmina Philosophiae, the journal of the International Boethius Society. From Western New York, he lives in Missouri with his wife, Camarie, who writes poetry and fairy tales. Anthony serves as an ordained deacon in the United Episcopal Church.

Details

Online only, runs 8 weeks, meeting 2hr/wk. via Zoom. Students will also have the option to participate in class discussion in the Davenant Common Room Discord server. Register now to reserve your spot. The course will proceed contingent on sufficient enrollment; on rare occasions, a class has to be cancelled due to insufficient interest. Once the registration period closes, the class meeting time will be set on the basis of a poll of availability from registrants. In case of cancellation or scheduling conflicts, students will be eligible for a refund or a transfer to another course.

This is a graduate-level course. Although a BA is not a necessary pre-requisite for this course, students should come prepared to do graduate-level work.