By Negwa Nagi
Gertrude More used three particular genres in her writing: doggerel, ballad meter, and intercessory poetry. These genres served as frameworks and strategies to communicate her thoughts, feelings, and prayers, which were often expressed in verse. As a mystical writer, More often wrote her poems with the purpose of serving and maintaining a deep connection with God. More’s choice to write in these different genres opens up various ways and structures that guide readers through reading, interpreting, and analyzing her work. That is, genres act as a tool for writers to be able to say what they want to say. Understanding these genres opens up fresh ways to think about More as a poet.
Doggerel is a poetic genre that is often shorthand for “bad poetry.” This is generally due to its use of irregular rhythms, rhymes, or verse. However, it can also be intentional or devotional where there is purposeful use of obvious rhymes and basic language. As simplistic poetry, doggerel was a popular genre of convent writing during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. In fact, “most of the poetry circulating in the English Benedictine convents during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries was in fact ‘devotional doggerel’, or verse characterized by rough or monotonous meter, unsophisticated language, and obvious rhymes” (Goodrich 601). Moderation and simplicity of speech and using language according to time and place were key aspects of Benedictine piety. Thus, although More didn’t generally write doggerel, some of her poetry did fit into this genre–specifically “devotional doggerel,” which was particularly “employed within English Benedictine cloisters for its pious effects” (Goodrich 601). This poetic genre certainly acted as a vehicle for More to portray her love and devotion to God. This can be seen in one of her poems, “O Lord my God, to thee I do aspire,” where she says, “O Lord my God, to thee I do aspire/ And only thee in soule I do desire” (ll. 1-2). This poem uses very simplistic diction and More avoids using figurative language such as imagery and metaphors in favor of a very plain style. More’s doggerel poetry used rhymes and consistent rhythms to comply with the convent’s goal of using this genre to “distil spiritual insights or prayer into easily remembered aphorisms” (Goodrich 617). While much of More’s poetry is not doggerel, it too displays an “avoidance of imagery, of ingenious language, and of literary complexity” that were “part of a strategy of self-effacing religious plain-speaking consistent with [Augustine] Baker’s and More’s ideals of contemplative prayer, which included an avoidance of distracting sensuous particularity” (Marotti 16). In other words, More’s verse (whether doggerel or simply plain verse) complied with the ideals of contemplative prayer, which required avoiding distractions such as sensual or erotic language.
Ballad meter is a poetic genre with a rich history and development throughout the early modern period. In fact, “throughout most of the seventeenth century, ballad meter enjoyed a greater degree of literary popularity than it had ever before attained” (Stewart 22). During this period, ballads were usually narrative songs aimed at a general audience; even illiterate people could enjoy ballads sung by their friends and family. The authors of ballads generally used ballad meter, which follows an ABCB rhyme scheme. Usually, the A and C lines are iambic tetrameter (four feet), while the B lines are iambic trimeter (three feet). Ballad meter itself became popular enough that poets began to use it more generally, including Gertrude More. For example, More’s “To our Blessed Lady, the Advocate of Sinners” follows the ABCB rhyme scheme and consists of lines of two different lengths–alternating tetrameter and trimeter. As a “low” literary form associated with popular culture, ballad meter made a good vehicle for her poetry because More was able to use it to express her religious and political thoughts through the use of plain speech appropriate to the cloister.
Intercessory poetry is essentially prayer in the form of poems. However, it is also very specific as it asks a saint to pray to God on one’s behalf. Although More “belonged to a tradition of mystical writers who believed in the value of the via negativa, a path to union with God by total self-abnegation and the emptying of the mind of set ideas and images” (Marotti 13), she did not write her poetry in line with the via negativa as one would expect. Rather, her intercessory poetry shows her doing something completely different. That is, More’s intercessory poetry involves images, whereas the via negativa is a spiritual exercise with the purpose of emptying the mind of images. So instead of engaging in contemplative prayer, she is engaging in intercessory prayer. One of these poems is “To our most Holy Father Saint Benedict” in which More says, “By Prayer and Patience it’s fulfilled/ Charity, Obedience/ By seeking after God alone/ And giving none offence” (ll. 25-28). Here, More is using this genre to turn to St Benedict as a means of accessing God as he is the only true answer to happiness. More’s intercessory poems also ask the saints to pray for her, an important component of intercessory prayer. For instance, in the last two lines of “To our most Holy Father Saint Benedict” (1658), she says, “Oh pray dear Father that he ever be/ our only love and all eternally. Amen” (ll. 57-58). Through her use of this genre, she is able to show her belief in and devotion to God since she asks for St Benedict to pray on her behalf. This strategy also shows her dedication to God as she demonstrates how committed she is to religion, her Benedictine vocation, and staying on the right path. Therefore, it can be concluded that this genre was particularly useful and effective when it came to More’s spiritual life.
More’s use of these different genres participated in a tradition of convent poetry that adapted secular ideals for a religious setting and may have even influenced early modern English literature more broadly. Arthur Marotti, for example, claims that the “writings of a spiritually empowered More, who had lived within the bounds of a cloister, had an impact well beyond the convent walls, in both manuscript and print” (17). Meanwhile, Dorothy Latz has argued that More’s “circle of associates was extensive and influenced generations succeeding hers, well into the following century” (69). Through the use and implementation of these genres, More was able to express her particular spiritual views in ways that could then influence others at her convent and beyond, both in a political and literary sense. More’s doggerel, ballad meter, and intercessory poetry allowed her to convey her thoughts in various styles and structures. Her choice of genres opens up new ways of thinking about how genres represent and serve as tools for writers in conveying their message as well as how they assist readers with interpretation.
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Works Cited
“‘Low and Plain Stile’: poetry and piety in English Benedictine convents, 1600-1800.” Br. Cathol. Hist (2019), vol. 34, no. 4, pp. 599-618. Cambridge University Press, 2019.
Latz, Dorothy L. “The Mystical Poetry of Dame Gertrude More.” Mystics Quarterly, vol. 16, no. 2, 1990, pp. 66-82.
More, Gertrude. Gertrude More, ed. Arthur F. Marotti. The Early Modern Englishwoman: A Facsimile Library of Essential Works. Series II. Printed Writings, 1641-1700. Part Four. Vol. 3. Routledge, 2009.
Stewart, George. Modern Metrical Technique: as Illustrated by Ballad Meter (1700-1920). Columbia University Press, 1922.