The Throbbing of the Word: The Figure of the Sphere and Its Analogues in the Poetry of Richard Crashaw by Fabrice Schultz

Based on an unpublished translation of his poems, this study combines literature, intellectual and cultural history, the history of science, and theology, focusing on the most European of seventeenth-century English poets: Richard Crashaw.

Richard Crashaw (1612–1649), an Anglican writer who converted to Catholicism, published his poems at a time when scientific discoveries were questioning the ability of the sphere to represent humanity and the world. By situating these poems within their scientific, theological, and cultural context, and by offering new translations, Fabrice Schultz highlights this writer’s attachment to geocentrism and his call to rise from Earth toward Heaven in order to unite with God.