Introduction

In a short overview of the Anglican Church, intended to instruct the French, Parsons (1959) quips that the origins of the English Church are shrouded in mystery, and that it remains a mystery not only to the Church from which it separated 400 years ago, but also to the English themselves. This article aims to address some of the more prevalent misconceptions about the English Church and to document its influence on the literary life of England by looking at how it has informed the work of four major writers and poets, namely George Herbert, Jane Austen, George Eliot and Sir John Betjeman, each of whom represents a particularly interesting response to different aspects of Anglicanism and reveals the many ways in which the communion has influenced English literature at various

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Citation: Wolf, Alan. "Anglicanism in English Literature". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 25 July 2014 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19366, accessed 27 November 2024.]