George Herbert was born in
Montgomery Castle, Shropshire, in
1593 and died at the age of forty. He
was descended on his father's side
from the earls of Pembroke and on his
mother's from a family of Shropshire
knights. He was a Fellow of Trinity
College Cambridge at the age of
twenty-two and later was appointed
Orator for the university, which position
brought him to the attention of the king.
Then his life changed direction: he took holy orders, married and later
moved to be priest in the country parish of Bemerton, Wiltshire. His poetry
reflects his Anglicanism, with its emphasis on balance, neither Puritan at one
extreme nor Catholic at the other ('man well dressed'). But it also expresses
the conflict within him between the pleasures of the worldly life he might
have had and the priestly duties he had now sworn to undertake. After his
death in 1633, his collection of poems, The Temple, was published in
Cambridge and became an instant success.
One of his better-known collections bears a title which might need some
revision to sit comfortably in the lexicon of the twenty-first century but The
Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations remains a seminal work!
'The Collar' dramatises a potential rebellion against this contemplative life in
a witty play on the idea of the priest's collar. The poem is striking in its sense
of a living relationship with God, closest to a marriage, and in its direct and
jagged expression of frustration. The poet craftsman is also in evidence: the
rhyme scheme of the poem ends where it starts, so that the poem itself is a
collar, enclosing him. In 'Jordan' he makes his view of writing poetry
manifest: as with his religion, he prefers it to at least seem simple, capable
of being understood by anyone. In truth, of course, his own directness is
achieved through formidable technique.
'Love 1, 2 and 3' most profoundly and movingly express both the tensions
and the joy of his relationship with God. The first two are sonnets of
profound praise, humble but not grovelling, full of alert piety, clear and not
self-regarding. The third is a beautiful dramatisation of his sense of
hesitation and failure, built around a witty parallel with the sacrament of Holy
Communion, but transcending its cleverness with complete simplicity: 'so I
did sit and eat'.
At his induction to the parish of Bemerton, George Herbert prostrated
himself before the altar, consecrating himself to God and to the duties that
lay ahead of him. These poems tell the inner story of what that meant to a
priest whose life might have taken a different course.
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