Book excerpt: This book examines the relationship between literature and religious conflict in seventeenth-century England, showing how literary texts grew out of and addressed the contemporary controversy over ceremonial worship. Examining the meaning and function of religion in seventeenth-century England, Achsah Guibbory shows that the conflicts over religious ceremony that were central to the English Revolution had broad cultural significance. She offers new and original readings of Herbert, Herrick, Browne and Milton in this context.