Using alchemical memory techniques for the interpretation of literature

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This study examines the ways in which three seventeenth-century metaphysical poets, Donne, Herbert, and Crashaw, used mnemonic devices from Raymond Lull (1235-1316) to express dissenting views of purgatory. Studying three alchemico-Lullian signs - the fiery sword, mercurial tears, and the bloody breast - Albrecht shows how these poets express purgatory as a place where the process of purification occurs. Each poet meant to express his particular view of purgatory to Calvinists, both radical and moderate, to Roman Catholics, and to other religious groups.