Book description
George Herbert combined the intellectual and the spiritual, the humble
and the divine, to create some of the most moving devotional poetry in
the English language. His deceptively simple verse uses the ingenious
arguments typical of seventeenth-century 'metaphysical' poets, and
unusual imagery drawn from musical structures, the natural world and
domestic activity to explore a mosaic of Biblical themes. From the wit
and wordplay of 'The Pulley' and the formal experimentation of 'Easter
Wings' and 'Paradise', to the intense, highly personal relationship
between man and God portrayed in 'The Collar' and 'Redemption', the
works collected here show the transcendental power of divine love.
George Herbert was born in 1593. He was educated at Westminster
School and Trinity College, Cambridge, where he was appointed Reader
in Rhetoric in 1618, and PUblic Orator in 1620. Though he seemed
destined for a great public career, attracting the attention of
influential patrons, including King James I. However, when his patrons
died, Herbert resigned from parliament and took holy orders in 1626,
becoming rector of a tiny parish on Salisbury Plain. He died in 1633.
John Tobin is currently a Professor of English Literature at the
University of Massachusetts. he has published widely on the sources of
Renaissance poetry.
