SOURCE: Sasse, H. C. “Spirit and Spirituality of the Counter-Reformation in Some Early Gryphius Sonnets.” Forum for Modern Language Studies 12, no. 1 (January 1976): 50-58.

In the following essay, Sasse examines the influence of the theology of the Counter-Reformation on Gryphius's early sonnets, focusing in particular on the poet's expressions of spirituality.

The element of paradox, of the unexpected juxtaposition of apparently irreconcilable opposites, is one of the most fascinating aspects of Baroque literature. Theological and doctrinal paradoxes too play their part in the poetry of the German Baroque, and an attempt will be made here to show how the Protestant Gryphius reflects in his early sonnets much of the spirit and spirituality, and at times the ascetic and devotional theology of the later Counter-Reformation, as well as making use of the liturgical forms and traditions of the Post-Tridentine period in the history of Catholicism.

Andreas Gryphius published his early...