Introduction: Distraction and the Ethics of Poetic Form in The Temple

The formal dimensions of George Herbert’s poetry, including prosody and assonance, bear important ethical and spiritual significance. This is especially true in lyrics dealing with the problem of distraction, a crucial concept in 17th-century religious culture and one with a range of historically and theologically discrete meanings. The formal strategies Herbert deploys in lyrics about distraction proved particularly consequential for subsequent poets in the period, especially those writing in the wake of the English Civil War such as Henry Vaughan. For Vaughan, as for Herbert, distraction is a somatic, social, and spiritual problem that touches on the very essence of what it is to be a fully mature Christian.