![]() In 1619, he was elected the Public Orator of Cambridge University. He was elected a major fellow of Trinity in 1618, and was appointed Praelector or Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge. He became a minor Fellow of Trinity College in 1614 before proceeding MA (Master of Arts) in 1616, the year of William Shakespeare’s death. Herbert graduated first with the degree BA (Bachelor of Arts) in 1613. Trinity College Cambridge … George Herbert was elected a major fellow in 1618 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) His first verses to be published, in 1612, were two memorial poems in Latin on the death of Prince Henry, the heir apparent. As his surviving letters reveal, Herbert’s time in Cambridge was marked by ill health and worries about money.Īt Trinity he began both to write devotional poetry and his first two sonnets, sent to his mother in 1610, maintained that the love of God is a worthier subject for verse than the love of woman. On, he was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge, where he excelled in languages and music, and there he first considered becoming a priest. George Herbert was a student at Trinity College, Cambridge (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2012)įrom Westminster School, Herbert went on to become one of three members of his family to win scholarships to Cambridge. Trinity Lane, Cambridge, in the snow, with the walls of Trinity College on the right. In 1606, Herbert’s widowed mother, Magdalene, married Sir John Danvers, who was then only 20 but proved himself to be a benign and generous stepfather. As early as 1604, he penned Musae Responsoriae, later published in 1620, a collection of lightly satirical verses against the Presbyterian controversialist Andrew Melville. In his first year at Westminster School, he came under the tutelage of Lancelot Andrewes, then the Dean of Westminster Abbey. as Dean, Lancelot Andrewes, took a particular interest in the school and was one of George Herbert’s teachers (Photograph: Patrick Comerford) The family moved first to Oxford in 1599 and then to London in 1601, and George Herbert was tutored at home before entering Westminster School in 1604 at the age of 10. The poet’s mother was determined to educate and raise her children as loyal Anglicans. Herbert’s father, Richard Herbert, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, died in 1596, when George was three, leaving a widow and 10 children. His older brother, Edward Herbert, later Lord Herbert of Cherbury, was an important poet and philosopher, often referred to as “the father of English deism.” George Herbert’s mother Magdalene (nee Newport) was a patron and friend of John Donne, who dedicated his Holy Sonnets to her, and of other poets. When the first folio of Shakespeare’s plays was published in 1623, it was dedicated to Herbert’s kinsmen, “the most noble and incomparable pair of brethren,” William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke, and Philip Herbert, Earl of Montgomery. George Herbert was born on 3 April 1593 in Montgomery Castle in Wales, the seventh of 10 children in an eminent, intellectual artistic and wealthy Welsh landed family. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote of Herbert’s diction that “Nothing can be more pure, manly, or unaffected.” The poet laureate WH Auden wrote of him: “His poetry is the counterpart of Jeremy Taylor’s prose: together they are the finest expressions of Anglican piety at its best.” ![]() ![]() His poetry is constantly evident of the intimacy of his dealings with God and his assurance that, alone in a vast universe, he is held safe by the Crucified Christ.Īlthough he is not included in Alister McGrath’s collection, The SPCK Handbook of Anglican Theologians (London: SPCK, 1998), Herbert, along with John Jewel, Richard Hooker and Lancelot Andrewes, had a profound influence on the Caroline Divines, including John Cosin and Jeremy Taylor, and he is ranked with John Donne as one of the great Metaphysical poets. His spirituality is the Anglican Via Media or Middle Way par excellence. ![]() ![]() George Herbert was a skilled priest, poet and teacher, and an accomplished musician, who in his poetry brings together poetry, music and architecture. Heart-work and heaven-work make up his books.” The poet Henry Vaughan described him as “a most glorious saint and seer.” The Puritan Richard Baxter was moved to say: “Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and whose business in the world is most with God. George Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. ![]()
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