George herbert short biography

English poet, orator and Anglican priest (1593–1633)

For other people named George Herbert, see George Herbert (disambiguation).

George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. 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 born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. 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 sat in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.

After the death of King James, Herbert renewed his interest in ordination. He gave up his secular ambitions in his mid-thirties and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the rector of the rural parish of Fugglestone St Peter, just outside Salisbury. 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. Henry Vaughan called him "a most glorious saint and seer". He was never a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.

Biography

Early life and education

George Herbert was born 3 April 1593 in Montgomery, Montgomeryshire, Wales, the son of Richard Herbert (died 1596) and his wife Magdalennée Newport, the daughter of Sir Richard Newport (1511–1570). George was one of 10 children. The Herbert family was wealthy and powerful in both national and local government, and George was descended from the same stock as the Earls of Pembroke. His father was a member of parliament, a justice of the peace, and later served for several years as custos rotulorum (keeper of the rolls) of Montgomeryshire. His mother was a patron a

(George Herbert: a portrait by Robert White in 1674)

“On his deathbed, he sent the manuscript of The Temple to his close friend, Nicholas Ferrar, asking him to publish the poems only if he thought they might do good to ‘any dejected poor soul.'”

George Herbert (1593-1633) comes from a noble family from Montgomery, Wales. Herbert’s father was a wealthy Aristocrat, a member of Parliament who knew many writers and poets such as John Donne. His mother Magdalen later became a patron and friend of John Donne. George’s father died at a young age, and shortly after his father’s death, Herbert’s mother moved him and his six brothers and three sisters to Oxford. Then five years later they moved to London, where they would be properly educated and raised as loyal Angelicans. Herbert began school at age 10, attending Westminster School before moving on to Trinity College. While at Trinity, Herbert earned both his bachelors and masters degrees, and went on to be appointed rhetoric reader at Cambridge. Shortly after becoming a rhetoric reader, Herbert became Cambridge’s public orator, speaking on behalf of the school at a variety of functions. Following in his father’s footsteps, George was elected as a representative to Parliament in both 1624 and 1625.

After leaving Parliament behind, he began his ordination as a deacon supposedly in late 1624. However his life as a deacon gave him a modest income and could not support him. This caused him to live with friends and relatives between 1624 and 1629. His financial condition improved when he became a part owner of land in Worcestershire and sold for a good profit. With his financial gain he was able to focus on his favorite projects, rebuilding churches. During this time he was without a vocation and his poems reflected this period. Poems such as “The Church, “Affliction”, and “Employment” were him reflecting

George Herbert was born on April 3, 1593, the fifth son of an eminent Welsh family. His mother, Magdalen Newport, held great patronage to distinguished literary figures such as John Donne, who dedicated his Holy Sonnets to her. Herbert’s father died when he was three, leaving his mother with ten children, all of whom she was determined to educate and raise as loyal Anglicans. Herbert left for Westminster School at age ten, and went on to become one of three to win scholarships to Trinity College, Cambridge.

Herbert received two degrees (a BA in 1613 and an MA in 1616) and was elected a major fellow of Trinity. Two years after his college graduation, he was appointed reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge, and in 1620 he was elected public orator a post wherein Herbert was called upon to represent Cambridge at public occasions and that he described as “the finest place in the university.” Between 1624 and 1625, Herbert was elected as a representative to Parliament. He resigned as orator in 1627, married Jane Danvers in 1629 and took holy orders in the Church of England in 1630. Herbert spent the rest of his life as rector in Bemerton near Salisbury. While there, he preached, wrote poetry, and helped rebuild the church out of his own funds.

Herbert’s practical manual to country parsons, A Priest to the Temple (1652), exhibits the intelligent devotion he showed to his parishioners. On his deathbed, he sent the manuscript of The Temple to his close friend, Nicholas Ferrar, asking him to publish the poems only if he thought they might do good to “any dejected poor soul.” He died of consumption in 1633 at the age of forty and the book was published in the same year. The Temple met with enormous popular acclaim; it was reprinted twenty times by 1680.

Herbert’s poems have been characterized by a deep religious devotion, linguistic precision, metrical agility, and ingenious use of conceit. Samuel Taylor Coleridge wrote of Herbert’s diction that “No

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