Metaphysical
and religious poet, George Herbert (1593-1633) was the fifth son of Richard and
Magdalen Newport Herbert, a noble and distinguished family from
Montgomery
,
Wales
. His great, great grandfather was the brother of Sir William Herbert who was
granted an Earldom by Edward IV, for his services in the White Rose (the symbol
of Yorkish partisans in the War of the Roses). He was born on
April 3, 1593
, in
Montgomery
,
Wales
. After the death of his father in
1596, his mother moved her family of seven boys and three girls first to
Oxford
and then five years later to
London
in order to educate them and raise them as loyal Anglicans. In
Oxford
, Magdalen Herbert became a patron for John Donne, the famed poet and preacher,
who dedicated his Holy Sonnets to her.
Herbert was tutored at home until the age of twelve, then sent to Westminster
School, where, according to his first biographer Izaak Walton, “the beauties
of his pretty behaviour and wit shined and became so eminent and lovely in this
his innocent age, that he seemed to be marked out for piety” (379).In 1596, Magdalen Herbert married Sir John Danvers. In 1610, Herbert sent
his first two sonnets to his mother, maintaining in them that the love of God is
a worthier subject for verse than the love of a woman. In 1612, two memorial
poems in Latin on the death of Prince Henry (the heir apparent to the throne)
were published.
After
earning distinction as a Westminster King’s Scholar, Herbert studied at
Trinity
College
,
Cambridge
. He earned his B.A. in 1613 and his M.A. in 1616. In 1618, he became a Reader
in Rhetoric and was elected Public Orator (official spokesperson ) for the
University from 1620-1628, a post which required that he write the official
letters of the university and deliver speeches of praise to visiting
dignitaries. This post gave him access to powerful political contacts, including
Sir Francis Bacon and King James I. Both of these contacts thought highly of
Herbert. Bacon had Herbert read his works before he published them, and
dedicated his Tranlation of Certaine
Psalmes (The Psalms of King David) to Herbert whom he saw “as the best
judge of divine poetry,” and King James saw Herbert as “the jewel of the
University” for his eloquent and learned ability to express in Latin the
thoughts of the university on public matters (qtd. In Walton 387). In addition,
he served as a member of Parliament for
Montgomery
in 1624 and 1625.
Instead of
pursuing these secular aims, which offered much promise as made evident by the
appointment of his two immediate predecessors as Secretaries of State, Herbert
chose a path similar to the one that he had earlier taken in regard to his
poetry by choosing to become a deacon in 1626 and resigning from his post as
Orator in 1627. In this same year, his mother died and her funeral sermon was
delivered by John Donne. On
March 5, 1629
, after a brief courtship, he married Jane Danvers, his step-father’s cousin.
That year also saw his brother Edward Herbert, a noted philosopher and poet,
raised to the peerage as Lord Herbert of Cherbury. In April of 1630, he was
presented by King Charles I the rectorship of St. Andrew’s at Bemerton in
Salisbury
, and in September of that same year, he was ordained an Anglican Priest.
At St.
Andrew’s Herbert devoted himself to the flock entrusted to him by faithfully
tending to the needs of his parishioners. These tasks included the rebuilding of
the church out of his own monies, conducting Morning and Evening prayer, and
visiting and nurturing his flock through word and action. His treatise, A
Priest to the Temple, Or, The Country Parson (1652) bears
witness to the duties he maintained as a priest.Herbert had been sickly for quite some time, and on his deathbed he gave
the manuscript of The Temple; or, Sacred Poems and Private
Ejaculations to Edmund Duncon to convey to Mr. Nicholas Ferrar, his friend.
Herbert told Duncon that the manuscript contains “a picture of the many
spiritual conflicts that have passed betwixt God and my soul, before I could
subject mine to the will of Jesus my Master: in whose service I have now found
perfect freedom. Desire him to read it; and then, if he can think it may turn to
the advantage of any dejected soul, let it be made public; if not, let him burn
it” (qtd. In Walton 419). Shortly after his death of consumption in 1633 at
the age of forty, Ferrar had The Temple
(1633) published; it received much acclaim and by 1680 had been reprinted twenty
times. Aside from this poetry
collection and The Country Parson
(published in 1652 as part of Herbert’s
Remains), Herbert also wrote Latin poetry and compiledproverbs.
![[George Herbert at Bemerton]](../Ghbem_.gif)
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