Eleanor Hardy

Research Interests: Early modern poetry; verse exchange; literary sociability; manuscript circulation; Edward Herbert; George Herbert; John Donne; Ben Jonson; Thomas Carew

Doctoral Research: My thesis focuses on the poetry of Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury (1582?-1648), in order to offer a reappraisal of this often overlooked writer, and to demonstrate how his poems can suggest new ways of reading the writings of George Herbert, John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Thomas Carew. Edward Herbert is now widely characterised as one of early modern England’s great thinkers, an avid book collector, and intriguing public figure; but it is less often realised that he was also an innovative poet. My research seeks to restore Herbert’s poetry to its rightful place in literary history by establishing the social context in which it was composed, disseminated, compiled, and read.