Anamorphosis and the Religious Subject of George Herbert's "Coloss. 3.3."

This essay argues that Herbert's "Coloss. 3.3." can best be understood by comparing the poem's visual effect to the technique of anamorphosis. Like anamorphic art, Herbert's poem fragments any single viewing perspective in order to reveal the temporal and spatial limits of human existence. However, whereas anamorphic paintings (such as Holbein's The Ambassadors) inscribe mortality and doubt upon the viewer, Herbert's poem explores the anamorphic potential of written text to impart a communal experience of religious truth that transcends the limits of the self.