George Herbert

English poet and cleric

• Born: April 3, 1593
• Birthplace: Montgomery, Wales
• Died: March 1, 1633
• Place of death: Bemerton, near Salisbury, Wiltshire, England

George Herbert is among the most important British religious lyricists of all time. His influence extends not only to other Metaphysical poets but also to major writers of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His life, moreover, reflected the same unwavering dedication to his faith that is evident in his poetry.

Early Life

Richard Herbert, the father of George Herbert, came from a long line of military leaders and courtiers; George’s mother, Magdalen Herbert, was descended from a prominent Shropshire family, the Newports. Magdalen was known for her piety, and she had need of all her spiritual resources when, in 1596, her husband died, leaving Magdalen with nine children and a tenth on the way. This redoubtable woman immediately took steps to settle the estate and arrange for the welfare of her children.

Shortly after the birth of her son Thomas in 1597, Magdalen moved the family to the home of her mother, Margaret Bromley Newport, at Eyton-upon-Severn in Shropshire. She then arranged an advantageous marriage for her oldest son, Edward, who was at Oxford University. The following year, Lady Newport died, and Magdalen moved to Oxford, where she took a house for herself and her children, along with Edward’s young bride. There, the younger boys, including George, were probably taught by tutors. According to Herbert’s biographer Isaak Walton, it was at Oxford that Magdalen Herbert first met the poet and priest John Donne , who became a close friend.

In 1601, Magdalen moved to London and established a permanent home at Charing Cross. She attended divine services regularly, supervised a large household, and entertained often. In 1608, she married Sir John Danvers, a young man half her age. It was evidently a happy match, and Danvers later became one of George’s closest friends. Among Magdalen’s regular guests in London was the new dean of Westminster Abbey, Lancelot Andrewes , a learned Anglican divine. Andrewes probably helped place George in the prestigious Westminster School, where he was so outstanding a student that he was awarded one of three Westminster nominations to Trinity College, Cambridge. George was admitted to Cambridge on May 5, 1609, a month after his sixteenth birthday. He would be associated with the university for the next fifteen years.

Life’s Work

During his years at Cambridge, Herbert remained undecided as to what course he should pursue in life. His aristocratic rank, his family background, and his education equipped him for a role at court, perhaps as a diplomat like his brother Edward, who in 1619 became ambassador to France. However, George’s correspondence indicates that as early as 1618 he was planning to study divinity. In any case, Herbert meant both his life and his poetry to be a testament to his faith. In 1610, Herbert had sent two sonnets as a gift to his mother. In the poems and in the letter dispatched along with them, he promised to use his poetic talents solely to glorify God. Nevertheless, while he was at Cambridge, in addition to his devotional poems, Herbert also wrote occasional poems, some of them addressed to friends like John Donne and the scholar and philosopher Francis Bacon.

Herbert received a B.A. and an M.A. from Cambridge and became a fellow of Trinity College. In 1620, he was appointed university orator. As Cambridge’s official spokesperson, he conducted official correspondence with the king and other important personages and delivered Latin orations at public occasions. The position could have opened the way to a bright future at court. However, several months after he was elected to Parliament from the borough of Montgomery in 1623, Herbert was granted leave from his duties as orator, and later the appointment expired. By now, he had evidently decided against a secular life. His biographer, Amy M. Charles, has found evidence that he was ordained a deacon in 1624; at that time, he was presented with several minimal church livings. However, Herbert would not become a priest until 1630.

The intervening years were difficult for Herbert. Though never robust, in 1627 he became so ill, perhaps from consumption, that it took him the better part of a year to recuperate. That same year, his mother died, and Herbert published Memoriae Matris Sacrum (1627), the only collection to appear during his lifetime. The work consisted of nineteen Greek and Latin poems and appeared on July 7 along with John Donne’s funeral sermon.

After Herbert’s health improved, he began courting Jane Danvers, a relative of his stepfather. Their wedding took place on March 5, 1629. The following year, Herbert was presented the living of Fugglestone-with-Bemerton. Shortly thereafter, he was installed as rector, and on September 19, 1630, he was ordained to the priesthood. Contemporary accounts and his own prose description of a country parson’s life indicate that, modeling his life on that of his Master, Herbert devoted himself to his flock. Unfortunately, he would remain with them for only three years. After a short illness, he died on March 1, 1633; on March 3, he was buried in the church at Bemerton.

Since the great poetic work for which Herbert is best known was not published until after his death, scholars can only conjecture as to dates of composition. The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations (1633) is divided into three parts. The first part, “The Church-porch,” is a long poem in stanzaic form, probably written early in Herbert’s life, that advises his readers both as to how best to comport themselves in society and how to lead a moral Christian life. The final section, “The Church Militant,” is also believed to be an early work. This poem, which is written in heroic couplets, is satirical in tone; its theme is that wherever the Christian Church goes, sin is close behind, bent on corrupting the institution and its members. The lyric poems that make up the impressive central section of The Temple, which is entitled “The Church,” are far more profound. Evidently they were composed and revised throughout Herbert’s lifetime.

Significance

Before he died, Herbert had arranged for the completed manuscript of The Temple to be delivered to his friend Nicholas Ferrar at the religious community of Little Gidding. Ferrar immediately made arrangements for it to be published along with his own brief account of the life of the author, a man he considered a saint. In 1670, Isaak Walton’s lengthier biography of Herbert further enhanced the reputation of the poet-priest. By that time, The Temple had become one of the most admired devotional works of its time. Eleven editions of the book appeared before the end of the seventeenth century, and it is credited with having influenced some of the major Metaphysical poets of the period, including Thomas Traherne and Henry Vaughan.

As literary tastes changed and the Metaphysical poets fell out of fashion, The Temple became less well known. However, the critic Stanley Stewart points out that from Emily Dickinson and Gerard Manley Hopkins to T. S. Eliot, W. H. Auden, and Elizabeth Bishop, poets sensitive to the life of the spirit have found much to admire and emulate in the poetry of Herbert. Moreover, in an era of unbelief, many readers find solace in reading the work of a man who believed his faith and lived his belief.

Herbert’s Major Works

1620

• Musae Responsoriae (printed 1662)

1623

• Passio Discerpta

1623

• Lucus

1627

• Memoriae Matris Sacrum

1633

• The Temple

1634

• A Treatise of Temperance and Sobrietie of Luigi Cornaro (translation)

1640

• Outlandish Proverbs Selected by Mr. G. H.

1652

• A Priest to the Temple: Or, The Country Parson His Character and Rule of Holy Life

Bibliography

Charles, Amy M. A Life of George Herbert. Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press, 1977. The standard biography. Includes chronology and several appendixes. Illustrated.

Eliot, T. S. George Herbert. Writers and Their Work 152. London: Longmans, Green, 1962. A seminal study by a major poet, one of Herbert’s most ardent admirers.

Malcolmson, Cristina. George Herbert: A Literary Life. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2004. Argues that the poet was not a recluse but a man engaged in the religious and political controversies of his time. Bibliography and index.

Patrides, C. A., ed. George Herbert: The Critical Heritage. Boston: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1983. Excerpts comments and criticism from the seventeenth century through the twentieth. Appendix of musical settings. Index.

Ray, Robert H. A George Herbert Companion. New York: Garland, 1995. Includes chronology, biography, and discussion of the works, as well as a Herbert dictionary, suggestions on research procedures, and extensive bibliography. Despite some errors, this is an invaluable work.

Summers, Joseph H. George Herbert: His Religion and Art. London: Chatto and Windus, 1954. A major study of the life and works. Extensive notes.

Tuve, Rosemond. A Reading of George Herbert. London: Faber and Faber, 1952. A highly respected scholar examines the liturgical background and the iconography of Herbert’s poetry.

Walton, Isaak. The Lives of John Donne, Sir Henry Wotton, Richard Hooker, George Herbert, and Robert Sanderson. 1670. Rev. ed. Reprint. London: Oxford University Press, 1927. Though not always factually accurate, Walton’s lively biography is an accurate portrait of Herbert’s character.

Young, R. V. Doctrine and Devotion in Seventeenth-Century Poetry: Studies in Donne, Herbert, Crashaw, and Vaughan. Studies in Renaissance Literature 2. Cambridge, England: D. S. Brewer, 2000. Chapters on “The Presence of Grace,” “Meditation and Sacrament,” and “Biblical Poetics” contain numerous references to Herbert’s poems. Bibliography and index.