Commemoration March 1
George Herbert, Poet, d. 1633
Reflection
George Herbert was born in 1593 to
a wealthy, aristocratic Welsh family. His mother, Magdalen, was a friend and
patron of John Donne, who later preached at her funeral (1627). The young Herbert
excelled in languages (five!) and music at Trinity
College, Cambridge. As University Orator, he seemed
destined for high political office. Certainly King James I wanted him in
Parliament and he served one year, 1624-25. However, Herbert felt increasingly
called to ministry.
He often visited the religious
community, Little Gidding. After the king’s death, able to follow his heart,
Herbert began the studies leading to his ordination in 1630. He served a tiny,
impoverished rural parish for only three years, much loved for his diligent,
generous care of their spiritual and bodily needs. They called him “holy Mr.
Herbert.” He had a happy four-year marriage to Jane Danvers, and died of
consumption weeks before his 40th birthday.
Like John Donne, he was a fine
metaphysical poet; however, Herbert’s poems are all sacred. Some are known to
us as hymn texts, e.g., “Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life.” Some are shaped
poems, formed to illustrate their subject. He wrote as he lived, with gentle
clarity and humility, offering his poems to his God as a lesser reflection of
God’s great creation. On his deathbed he gave the manuscript he called The
Temple to his friend Nicholas Ferrar, founder of Little Gidding, telling
him to publish the poems if Ferrar thought “they might turn to the advantage of
any dejected poor soul.” Otherwise, Ferrar was to burn them.
Lynn Tryggestad
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