The Last Pilgrimage to Eternity

Download or read book The Last Pilgrimage to Eternity written by Cyril L. Caspar and published by transcript Verlag. This book was released on 2018-03-31 with total page 263 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With the advent of the reformation, concepts of living and dying were profoundly reconfigured. As purgatory disappeared from the spiritual landscape, other paths to the afterlife were rediscovered. Thus, when life draws to a close, the passage to the afterlife becomes a last pilgrimage, a popular early modern metaphor that has received little critical commentary. In a rigorous historical and theological reading, Cyril L. Caspar explores five major English poets - John Donne, Sir Walter Raleigh, George Herbert, Edmund Spenser, and John Milton - to unveil the poetical potential of the last pilgrimage as a life-transcending metaphor.