The Posy: Understanding George Herbert’s Poetics Through Material Culture
Faculty Mentor Trish Ward and Student Greg Rockwell
Project Overview
Englishman George Herbert (1593-1633) became a priest in a small country parish after growing up and moving in aristocratic circles; the tension between these two states of life is evident in Herbert’s personal motto after he became a priest: “Lesse then the least of all God’s mercies.” Though it was common to take a motto, or posy, at the time, Herbert was uncommon in taking a religious posy. Most posies dealt with secular love, and were inscribed on love tokens given to one’s spouse or lover.
Our objective was to examine Herbert’s posy and his use of it in context of the posy tradition at the time, as well as to see the role posies play in his book of poetry, The Temple. What we found was that posies play a significant role in Herbert’s poetry as a subject of criticism and poetic metaphor. As well, in taking a posy Herbert is participating in the Renaissance idea of self-fashioning, and the type of posy Herbert takes is indicative of his theory of poetry in general.
What is a Posy?
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| Photographed at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford, England |
The Posie
Let wits contest,
And with their words and posies windows fill:
Lesse then the least
Of all thy mercies, is my posy still.
This on my ring,
This by my picture, in my book I write:
Whether I sing,
Or say, or dictate, this is my delight.
Invention Rest,
Comparisons go play, wit use thy will:
Lesse then the least
Of all God’s mercies, is my posy still.
—George Herbert
George Puttenham, author of The Arte of English Poesie (1585), describes posies as “epigrammes;” Critic Cristina Malcolmson defined a posy as “a short motto engraved on a window or imprinted on personal objects like rings and books, which often represented an intimate relationship or expressed a secret about an individual.” Though ring inscriptions have always been common, this particular trend grew to great heights in the 16th-17th century.
We were able to photograph and handle posy rings, cups, teapots, and brooches at the Ashmolean museum in Oxford, England, as well as visit collections in the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert museum in London.
But the greatest source of posies now are in commonplace books of the time and collections of posies that went through several editions in their popularity. We were able to handle such books as Love’s Garland, Cupid’s Posies, and Remains of Britain at the British Library, as well as the late 16th century Harleian MS. 6910.
Material Culture of the Posy
The phenomenologist Martin Heidegger writes of two ways to interact with an object: present at hand and ready at hand. These are good ways of talking about posy rings, because posy rings served two different functions.
To view an object as present at hand means to observe it as an object of contemplation. Normally, posy rings are worn as jewelry, and when taken off the inscription inside the ring can be viewed and meditated on. Posies in this way were private affairs between the giver and the bearer, because the ring would have to be taken off to see the inscription. A common posy ring of the time was inscribed “Remember me, when this you see,” obviously desiring the bearer to meditate on their distant ring giver.
To view things as ready at hand, means to see them as part of a constellation of objects. Thus, a posy ring becomes part of one’s attire, meant for display. While sometimes it might play the part of private contemplation, most of the time it serves as a public display of personal fashion. It marks one as a member of a certain social class by the size and style of the ring, and connects the wearer to the cultural world by accepting the ring, inserting them into the gift giving cycle of the time.
This ready at hand view of objects coincides with the Renaissance view of self-fashioning, the idea that one can create one’s own identity. When this is done through objects, it is called Objectification. Wearing a ring with a posy in it might serve to reinforce an idea, or giving someone a ring might encourage them in a decision. Very common in the 16th century is the giving of a ring in hopes that the receiver will think more kindly of the giver: “Love your love, you have me with this gift” is a good example of the type. Thus not only did Renaissance men and women fashion themselves through Objectification, they also sought to fashion others.
Interestingly, this gives posy rings agency. Agency is the way in which an object stimulates an emotional response and is invested with some of the intentionality of its creator. By leading the wearer to meditate on the inscription inside, posy rings act on their bearer and trigger an emotional response. When the posy rings were given to a person, the giver inscribed a motto that often was meant to persuade the receiver: “Love 
your love” is an example, as is “Accept of this, my heart withal / My love is great, though this is small.” By giving and receiving posy rings in this way, Renaissance men and women made these rings an active part of their society, constructing and fashioning their wearers and receivers. Posy rings became subjects in Renaissance culture, actively working on their bearers when viewed present at hand.
Herbert and His Posy
Herbert’s posy “Lesse then the least of all God’s mercies,” is a conflation of two verses in Scripture. The first is from Genesis 32:10, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast showed unto thy servant,” and Ephesians 3:8, “Unto me, who am less than the least of all the saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
The first verse is significant, because it occurs in Genesis when Jacob is seeking to reconcile with his brother Esau. As Herbert was one of ten children, he might well be implying his own need for brotherly humility. The second verse is interesting because Paul was an educated, aristocratic Jew preaching to the Gentiles, while Herbert was an educated aristocrat preaching to commoners. It suggests an affinity Herbert saw between himself and Paul in his preaching ministry.
Whether Herbert adopted his posy for encouraging humility with his brothers, or humility for his change of station in life, or both, it is attested by Nicholas Ferrar that Herbert would recite his posy after accomplishing anything that would tend to his own glory. In A Priest to the Temple, Herbert’s advice book for country parsons, he warns that pride and impurity of heart are the greatest temptations for priests: thus implying a vocational humility.
It is not certain whether Herbert owned a ring, picture, or book with his posy inscribed on it. At least as a literary device, however, he sought to create himself by the material with which he surrounded himself; he gave his posy an agency which he hoped would work on him to make him more humble, in contrast to what his contemporaries were doing with love posies.
The Posy in The Temple
Posies were overwhelmingly romantic in nature, though other uses for them were common. Herbert, as an Anglican priest, felt that poetry itself was too occupied with secular love and that there was no room for 
religious love poetry. He saw posies as representative of this imbalance, and in The Temple he writes about posies in a sequence of poems beginning with “Antiphon” and ending with “Jordan I.” Here Herbert describes how secular love has replaced divine love, and he entreats God to reverse this tragedy. He then goes on to demonstrate what the true Christian heart should look and act like.
Ultimately for Herbert, poetry comes down to writing from the heart, where God’s love resides. In “Good Friday” Herbert describes how Christ should write his sorrows in Herbert’s heart blood. Indeed, much of his poetry references writing on the heart, like “The Sinner” which exclaims, “Yet Lord restore thine image, hear my call: / And though my hard heart scarce to thee can groan, / Remember that thou once didst write in stone.”
Language like this intimates that Herbert thinks of his heart in ways similar to how his culture thought of posies. The heart to Herbert was the inmost part of a person, the most private, the most intimate. This closely ties into the image of posy rings with the posy inscribed inside, close to the finger of the wearer but invisible to everyone else. The idea of God writing on man’s heart, just as one writes on the inside of a ring, is already explicit in The Temple, when in “Misery” he writes of man once being God’s posy, “My pleasure.”
The difference in Herbert’s conception of a human posy ring ,however, is that much of it is antithetical to the cultural norm. His culture was exalted secular love, which Herbert resisted; instead he envisions divine love being written on his heart, which will bring his heart closer to God where it belongs. And instead of the posy being a clever crafting of the writer, Herbert, in “Jordan I,” sees what he finds in his heart to be a “sweetness ready penned,” without needing further embellishment.
Herbert often mentions his heart being made of stone, which not only references the hardness of heart he feels, but the altar of uncut stones the Israelites had to build when they fled Egypt and crossed the Jordan miraculously. The first poem in The Temple, called “The Altar,” describes Herbert’s heart as an altar with stones cut only by God’s power. Thus Herbert’s heart is an altar of uncut stones where Christ is kept, where there are words ready crafted for his poetry. This is a description of him as a posy ring.
Herbert is himself on the outside, but inscribed on the inside of his heart (like the inside of a ring) are Christ’s writings. Instead of Herbert, the bearer, having to find words inside himself, Christ has already provided all he needs; when Herbert writes poetry, he does not need clever poetical devices or fancy language, but can simply dip into his heart and write from there. Herbert contemplates what is in his heart in a present at hand manner, just as bearers of posy rings did their posies. Through his poetry, Herbert shows what posies can and should be in opposition to his culture’s application of them.
Opportunities for Future Study
This SURF project has given us a new area in Herbert criticism to explore. No one else has yet studied Herbert through his posy, and thus we have the chance to lay the groundwork for a better understanding of Herbert and his poetry. Dr. Ward will present a version of our findings to a Herbert Conference this Fall, focusing more specifically on the genesis of Herbert’s posy; Mr. Rockwell will also make a presentation in the Spring at the Philological Association of the Carolinas, which will focus more extensively on Herbert’s idea of the poet as posy in his work.
It is our plan as well to publish an article on our findings this summer. We will be working on this throughout the year outside of Dr. Ward’s administrative and teaching duties, and Mr. Rockwell’s studies, which include an Independent Study concerning the relationship between T. S. Eliot and George Herbert.