Herbert's Seventeenth-Century Reputation: A Summary and New Considerations

Numerous studies now exist on Herbert's reputation in his own century and later, the seminal ones being by Grosart, Hutchinson, and Summers.' My initial interest in Herbert's reputation led to doctoral work in 1967.2 Since then several scholarly articles and portions of books have added significantly to our knowledge of allusions to Herbert. Book-length studies of Herbert's critical reception also have appeared.3 I, too, continued to discover many references to him and concluded that a fully documented book on Herbert was needed — a research tool, as comprehensive and as accurate as possible, that would encompass chronological recording, in their first appearance, of all known seventeenth-century allusions in British books and manuscripts. In addition, an annotated bibliography of books and articles containing significant discoveries and commentary on such allusions and extensive indexes would make the tool particularly useful. I began in earnest in 1978 and completed the project in 1983 (making that yearthe ending date for scholarship and criticism noted in the book). The result has been published as The Herbert Allusion Book: Allusions to George Herbert in the Seventeenth Century (1986), a volume in the Texts and Studies series published by the University of North Carolina Press and Studies in Philology. My primary model was William Wells's Spenser Allusions of 1971-72 in the same series.