Quam oblationem : the act of sacrifice in the poetry of Saint Robert Southwell
- UNCG Author/Contributor (non-UNCG co-authors, if there are any, appear on document)
- Mary O' Donnell (Creator)
- Institution
- The University of North Carolina at Greensboro (UNCG )
- Web Site: http://library.uncg.edu/
- Advisor
- Jean Buchert
Abstract: The poetry of Saint Robert Southwell, priest, Jesuit, and martyr, has never been examined in the light of his most important role. Nineteenth-century scholars saw him as a martyr, and regarded his poetry as an expression of his suffering and desire for death. Twentieth-century scholars have viewed him principally as a Jesuit, and have studied his poetry as influenced by the Spiritual Exercises, which played an important role in his spiritual life. However, the Exercises have been overemphasized, inasmuch as they are not a recipe for poetry, nor were they Southwell's principal form of prayer. For Southwell was, primarily, a priest. His first duty was to offer the Sacrifice of the Mass, and to make the Mass available to English recusants. The laws passed during Elizabeth's reign made his martyrdom inevitable, but he was a martyr because he was a priest. As a Jesuit, he belonged to a specific order of priests; but he was, first of all, a priest.
Quam oblationem : the act of sacrifice in the poetry of Saint Robert Southwell
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Created on 1/1/1994
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Additional Information
- Publication
- Dissertation
- Language: English
- Date: 1994
- Subjects
- Southwell, Robert, $c Saint, $d 1561?-1595 $x Criticism and interpretation
- Sacrifice in literature