"Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night"
George Herbert was an English religious poet, a major metaphysical poet, a Welsh-born poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England, notable for the purity and effectiveness of his choice of words. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists." He was noted for unfailing care for his parishioners, bringing the sacraments to them when they were ill and providing food and clothing for those in need. Herbert was a versatile master of metrical form and all aspects of the craft of verse. Though he shared the critical disapproval given the metaphysical poets until the 20th century, he was still popular with readers.
Life
George Herbert was born on 3 April 1593 in Montgomery Castle, Montgomeryshire, Wales, into an artistic, the son of Richard Herbert (died 1596) and his mother Magdalen née Newport. He was one of 10 children. The Herbert family was wealthy and powerful in both national and local government. His father was a member of parliament, a justice of the peace, and later served for several years as high sheriff and later custos rotulorum (keeper of the rolls) of Montgomeryshire. His mother was a patron and friend of clergyman and poet John Donne and other poets, writers and artists. Richard Herbert died when George was three years old. Herbert and his siblings were then raised by his mother, who pressed for a good education for her children.
Education
He Educated at home, at Westminster School and He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. ( admitted on a scholarship ) He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University's Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. ( He served in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625 ) and graduated first with a Bachelor's and then with a master's degree in 1616 at the age of 23. Subsequently, Herbert was elected a major fellow of his college and then appointed Reader in Rhetoric. In 1620 he stressed his fluency in Greek and Latin and attained election to the post of the University's Public Orator, a position he held until 1627. He resigned as orator in 1627 and in 1630 he was ordained priest and became rector at Bemerton. Herbert wrote poetry in English, Latin and Greek.
He became friends with Nicholas Ferrar, who had founded a religious community at nearby Little Gidding, and devoted himself to his rural parish and the reconstruction of his church. Throughout his life he wrote poems, and from his deathbed he sent a manuscript volume to Ferrar, asking him to decide whether to publish or destroy them. Ferrar, In 1633 all of his English poems were published in The Temple, All of Herbert's surviving English poems are on religious themes. ( desire him to read it, and then, if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be made public, if not, let him burn it ) Herbert described his poems as a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between 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.
Works
" O day most calm, most bright, " sang George Herbert, and we may safely take that single line as expressive of the whole spirit of his writing. Herbert's chief work, the temple, consists of over one hundred and fifty short poems suggested by the church, her holidays and ceremonials, and the experiences of the Christian life. The first and notably poem, the church porch, is the longest poemand the last, “The Church Militant.” Other poems are concerned with church ritual. His notable work is “Easter Wings”.
Some of his poems, such as The Altar and Easter Wings are pattern poems, the lines forming the shape of the subject. Herbert also wrote at Bemerton A Priest to the Temple: Or The Country Parson, his Character and Rule of Life (1652).
In the Metaphysical manner, the likeness is of function rather than visual. In The Windows, for example, he compares a righteous preacher to glass through which God's light shines more effectively than in his words. Herbert's only prose work, A Priest to the Temple (usually known as The Country Parson), offers practical advice to rural clergy. In it, he advises that "things of ordinary use" such as ploughs, leaven, or dances, could be made to "serve for lights even of Heavenly Truths".
Death
All his life he had to battle against disease. He was died on March 1, 1633, Bemerton, Wiltshire, England. He was never a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.
Others
Herbert shares his conflicts with John Donne, the archetypal metaphysical poet and a family friend. Joseph Addison in the 18th century called “false wit.” Samuel Taylor Coleridge in the 19th century wrote of Herbert’s diction, “Nothing can be more pure, manly, and unaffected.” Henry Vaughan called him "a most glorious saint and seer".
He spoke face to face with God. That may be true, but it is interesting to note that not a poet of the first half of the 17th century, not even the gayest of the cavaliers, but has written some noble verse of prayer or aspiration, which expresses the underlying Puritan spirit of his age.
Comments
Post a Comment