Scholars have found Burke's evocative notion of courtship to be a resourceful tool for rhetorical criticism, but the full suasive force of this central activity of rhetoric, as Burke defines it, has yet to be fully appreciated. I will demonstrate that Burke's principle of 'temporizing of essence' is elemental to the suasive power of courtship, although Burke himself never explicitly made this connection. Courtship involves seeking identification with an estranged object of desire, the 'ultimate term' in a given hierarchy of 'goods'. It is fruitful to understand this ultimate term as an 'essence' which the subject courts through a temporal sequence of identifications. In translating his desired essential status into temporal terms, the subject is able to (symbolically at least) put himself 'in the way' toward identification with an elusive object of desire.

Although Burke persistently distanced himself from religious motives per se, his notion of 'temporizing of essence' (especially in the context of logology) is a rich resource for devotional writers, whose aim is to reconcile the subject to the Eternal. I will demonstrate the suasive force of this 'temporizing' element of courtship in the sermons of John Donne, specifically with respect to his handling of the Calvinist doctrine of election. Election, a theoretical 'essential' status which is difficult to apprehend, was cause of considerable anxiety in early modern England. Donne's strategy of consolation was to translate this 'essence' into a temporal courtship within the quotidian activities of his congregation's lives. In typical metaphysical, fashion, Donne asserts that this life is a participation in (hence a courtship of) the next, so that given a proper orientation, a devout life becomes a 'declaration' of one's status among the elect, in much the same manner that Castiglione's courtiers authenticate their status by their performance of courtly conventions. Donne is particularly useful for my purposes because he explicitly draws on elements of courtly culture in configuring his congregation's motives with respect to their 'courtship' of God. I will conclude, however, by briefly drawing application to more pedestrian instances of the use of' temporizing strategies in the rhetoric of courtship (broadly defined). In this light, Burke's notion of courtship becomes a much more potent tool for rhetorical analysis.