Russell M. Hillier and Robert W. Reeder describe the goal of this welcome collection of essays as the consideration of John Donne and George Herbert “conjointly and comparatively” (1). Unifying yet expansive, their guiding approach is commendable for its attempt to resist two tendencies in earlier scholarship on Donne and Herbert. First, and most successfully, the collection resists bifurcating (especially in the case of Donne) the poetry from the prose, and (to a lesser extent) the sacred verse from the secular. Although there is a natural emphasis on devotional poetry, Donne's prose works, including his sermons and Devotions upon Emergent Occasions, are amply considered. Herbert's The Country Parson shows up, and several chapters address Herbert's and Donne's Neo-Latin poetry, which is probably the most significant and groundbreaking feature of the collection. Second, the collection avoids adopting a critical framework that automatically accepts Herbert and Donne as poetic and temperamental opposites with distinct theological concerns.

Naturally, the editors and contributors recognize and address the longstanding critical dichotomy, and some even agree with it, but as a whole the collection does not impose a dichotomy. Rather, the essays seem to assess the poets as two candles on the same table—independent lights, each perceived in the glow of the other, against a common setting. While several essays conclude that there are important differences between Donne and Herbert, the interest is just as often on their similarities and exchanges. Hillier and Reeder's introduction provides an excellent summary of the many intersections, biographical and otherwise, between the two writers.

The organization of the ten essays into four parts is somewhat ambiguous. Part 1, “Negative Theology, Political Theory, and the Lyric,” considers two intellectual contexts that inform Donne's and Herbert's lyric poetry. Starting the collection off with a chapter that only considers Donne—“Donne's Negative Theology of the Cross” by Kirsten Stirling—is a puzzling decision, although I am hesitant to critique the inclusion of the essay, as Stirling's analysis of “The Crosse” is one of the most comprehensive and convincing accounts of the poem to date. (On this note, the prominence of Donne's “The Crosse” throughout the collection is another profitable turn.)

Part 2, “Encounters: Exchange and Collaboration,” focuses on specific literary interactions between Donne and Herbert. Perhaps for this reason, the three essays stand out for their careful arguments about interaction, influence, and allusion. Anne-Marie Miller-Blaise's essay on the commemorative volume Donne and Herbert put together—Donne contributing a sermon, and Herbert, Latin and Greek elegies—dedicated to Herbert's mother, Magdalen Herbert, calls attention to an underappreciated collaboration between the two. The other two chapters, one by Kimberly Johnson and the other by Greg Miller, spend time (Miller exclusively) on the two Latin poems that Donne and Herbert exchanged, which consider Donne's new seal depicting Christ on an anchor cross. This biographical episode, and the Latin poems it produced, have typically played only an anecdotal role in scholarship; Johnson's and especially Miller's essays here help fill in this gap in Donne and Herbert studies. In addition, the appendix to this collection contains new English translations (by Catherine Freis and Greg Miller) of the two Latin poems on the anchor-cross, which is likely to increase their utility in English literary studies.

Part 3, “Sin, Salvation, and Assurance,” offers nuanced contributions to the still vibrant area of literature and religion. Kate Narveson situates Donne's and Herbert's devotional writing in the context of early modern prayer manuals; her essay could have been grouped with the contextual essays in part 1. Reeder's essay directly engages the Donne-Herbert dichotomy, arguing that it remains elusive yet still of value.

The collection concludes with part 4, “Appraisals.” Christopher Hodgkins's entertaining and insightful chapter analyzes comedy, humor, and mirth in the poetry of both writers, nicely bringing Donne's Songs and Sonets into conversation with Herbert's The Temple. Lastly, Helen Wilcox, a scholar long sensitive to the forms and dynamics of devotional poetry, presents a tour de force analysis of the endings of Donne's and Herbert's poems. Presenting commanding overviews, both essays are highly recommended, especially for graduate students.

Combined Lights provides literary scholars of the English Renaissance with a valuable collection of essays solely on Donne and Herbert that is long overdue.