Janina Zimmermann

Formal Perfection as an Evidence for Inspiration in Poetry and Poetics

The dissertation project is concerned with formal perfection as an evidence for inspiration in poetry and poetics. For my research I will focus on a special strand of tradition concerning concepts of inspiration which can be traced in critical essays from the Elizabethan age onwards, for example in George Wither’s A Preparation to the Psalter (1619).

An important part of the dissertation is a close reading of selected poems which will be analysed with special regard to the way in which the texts themselves show their inspired state. I will also examine which means of reflecting this state can be found within the texts. Consequently, the focus will be on images, metaphors and structures which are used to refer to the process of inspiration. Besides the focus on inspiration, it will be essential to identify indicators of formal perfection in poetry such as musicality and poetic economy and to use them in the analyses.

At this point of research I will concentrate on A Preparation to the Psalter by George Wither.