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The English Poems of George Herbert
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This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.
Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface.
We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
247 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1671
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2269 people want to read
About the author
George Herbert
501 books139 followersGeorge Herbert (1593-1633) was a Welsh-born English poet and orator. Herbert's poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognized as "a pivotal figure: enormously popular, deeply and broadly influential, and arguably the most skillful and important British devotional lyricist."
Born into an artistic and wealthy family, Herbert received a good education that led to his admission in 1609 as a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in languages, rhetoric and music. He went to university with the intention of becoming a priest, but when eventually he became the University's Public Orator he attracted the attention of King James I and may well have seen himself as a future Secretary of State. In 1624 and briefly in 1625 he served in Parliament. Never a healthy man, he died of consumption at the early age of 39.
Born into an artistic and wealthy family, Herbert received a good education that led to his admission in 1609 as a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, Herbert excelled in languages, rhetoric and music. He went to university with the intention of becoming a priest, but when eventually he became the University's Public Orator he attracted the attention of King James I and may well have seen himself as a future Secretary of State. In 1624 and briefly in 1625 he served in Parliament. Never a healthy man, he died of consumption at the early age of 39.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 53 reviews
May 7, 2019
"Renaissance Literature and the Arts," where I encountered this poet, was one of my favorite and most memorable college courses. George Herbert (1593-1633) wrote unique poetry, often short and seemingly simple but hiding layers of complexity and symbolism. Formally, Herbert was very creative inventing not only new forms and rhyme schemes but sometimes "shaped poems" such as "Easter Wings," in which the text is printed vertically rather than left-to-right and forms the shape of a butterfly. His life overlapped with Shakespeare's but their work could not be more different. Most or all of the poetry in this volume is religious (Christian) and some of his works have been made into hymns, including this, one of my favorites, a love-ballad , later set to a haunting melody by British composer Vaughan Williams (1872-1958).
The Call
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life;
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
And such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love.
Here's a beautiful performance by baritone Carl Frank. Joy to you all, my Goodreads friends!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxc7...
The Call
Come, my Way, my Truth, my Life;
Such a Way, as gives us breath:
Such a Truth, as ends all strife:
And such a Life, as killeth death.
Come, my Light, my Feast, my Strength:
Such a Light, as shows a feast:
Such a Feast, as mends in length:
Such a Strength, as makes his guest.
Come, my Joy, my Love, my Heart:
Such a Joy, as none can move:
Such a Love, as none can part:
Such a Heart, as joyes in love.
Here's a beautiful performance by baritone Carl Frank. Joy to you all, my Goodreads friends!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DAxc7...
October 28, 2014
WHO will give me tears ? Come, all ye springs,
Dwell in my head and eyes ; come, clouds
and rain ;
My grief hath need of all the watery things
That nature hath produced : let every vein
Suck up a river to supply mine eyes,
My weary weeping eyes, too dry for me,
Unless they get new conduits, new supplies,
To bear them out, and with my state agree.
What are two shallow fords, two little spouts
Of a less world ? the greater is but small,
A narrow cupboard for my griefs and doubts,
Which want provision in the midst of all.
Verses, ye are too fine a thing, too wise
For my rough sorrows ; cease, be dumb and mute,
Give up your feet and running to mine eyes,
And keep your measures for some lover's lute,
Whose grief allows him music and a rhyme ;
For mine excludes both measure, tune, and time :
Alas, my God!
Dwell in my head and eyes ; come, clouds
and rain ;
My grief hath need of all the watery things
That nature hath produced : let every vein
Suck up a river to supply mine eyes,
My weary weeping eyes, too dry for me,
Unless they get new conduits, new supplies,
To bear them out, and with my state agree.
What are two shallow fords, two little spouts
Of a less world ? the greater is but small,
A narrow cupboard for my griefs and doubts,
Which want provision in the midst of all.
Verses, ye are too fine a thing, too wise
For my rough sorrows ; cease, be dumb and mute,
Give up your feet and running to mine eyes,
And keep your measures for some lover's lute,
Whose grief allows him music and a rhyme ;
For mine excludes both measure, tune, and time :
Alas, my God!
April 8, 2023
Herbert's poetry is the equivalent of Bach's cantatas: an endlessly exploratory yet infinitely orthodox wellspring of sacred feeling that richly illuminates the wonders of the church year. No poet makes me more grateful for the blessing of faith than him. But if he were merely a great devotional poet, he would not have survived: his musical ear and command of the language is capable of impressing even the most hardhearted skeptic. If the truest task of the Christian artist is to cloak the verities of Scripture and the experience of the church in the beauty and delight of a sanctified imagination, then indeed Herbert is up there with Bach. For a taste of his formal mastery, sample the small jewel "Virtue," whose stunning crystalline purity makes it perhaps the most perfect lyric ever written in English (only a supremely gifted poet could repeat one word so much in such a short poem and make it work):
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky;
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou must die.
Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye;
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.
Or try "Prayer," with its enraptured cavalcade of golden metaphors mimicking the medieval world picture:
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
Whether he is composing such wondrous lyrics, teeming interior monologues, deceptively simple anthem-like pieces, biblical or moral glosses, or encapsulations of the spirit of the Eucharist; a complete volume of Herbert, despite its relative brevity, will be a treasured lifelong companion year in and year out.
Sweet day, so cool, so calm, so bright,
The bridal of the earth and sky;
The dew shall weep thy fall to-night,
For thou must die.
Sweet rose, whose hue angry and brave
Bids the rash gazer wipe his eye;
Thy root is ever in its grave,
And thou must die.
Sweet spring, full of sweet days and roses,
A box where sweets compacted lie;
My music shows ye have your closes,
And all must die.
Only a sweet and virtuous soul,
Like season'd timber, never gives;
But though the whole world turn to coal,
Then chiefly lives.
Or try "Prayer," with its enraptured cavalcade of golden metaphors mimicking the medieval world picture:
Prayer the church's banquet, angel's age,
God's breath in man returning to his birth,
The soul in paraphrase, heart in pilgrimage,
The Christian plummet sounding heav'n and earth
Engine against th' Almighty, sinner's tow'r,
Reversed thunder, Christ-side-piercing spear,
The six-days world transposing in an hour,
A kind of tune, which all things hear and fear;
Softness, and peace, and joy, and love, and bliss,
Exalted manna, gladness of the best,
Heaven in ordinary, man well drest,
The milky way, the bird of Paradise,
Church-bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood,
The land of spices; something understood.
Whether he is composing such wondrous lyrics, teeming interior monologues, deceptively simple anthem-like pieces, biblical or moral glosses, or encapsulations of the spirit of the Eucharist; a complete volume of Herbert, despite its relative brevity, will be a treasured lifelong companion year in and year out.
February 10, 2025
Herbert makes me wish I suffered a bit more so I could feel closer to God.
November 17, 2017
Is George Herbert the most major of minor English poets? Or is he—to borrow a phrase from editor John Tobin—the most "modestly exquisite" of major ones? Often lumped in with the Metaphysical Poets, Herbert certainly rivals the best writers of his age for wit and eruditeness. What he lacks, however, is the pathos that makes a figure like Donne so engaging. For unlike Donne, Herbert didn't write as a spiritual palliative. Rather, his poetry was meant to guide others as they made their way through the dark night of the soul.
One might therefore expect these poems to offer little to the secular reader. Indeed, Herbert takes conscious pains to avoid the elaborate conceits of his peers, writing (for instance) that
Of course, many secular readers—myself included—find audacious wit and uninhibited invention (see: Donne) to be the cornerstone of poetic merit, which would mean that Herbert's careful restraint is as much artistic vice as it is spiritual virtue.
And this would be so, if it wasn't for Herbert's indisputable poetic genius. For The Temple—the sprawling cycle of poems that lies at the heart of the poet's oeuvre—simply bursts with subtle wordplay, rich allusion and flawless rhyme. Yet perhaps most impressive is Herbert's formal experimentation. With "The Altar" and "Easter Wings," the reader discovers Herbert as one of the forerunners of concrete poetry. And poems like "Paradise" and "A Wreath" boast a union of form and content that would make any Modernist drool.
That a seventeenth century poet-cum-pastor (Herbert) can write sober religious verse that nonetheless resonates with a young ignostic living some 350 years later (myself) must surely say something. And here, I'm reminded of English critic Roger Fry's assessment of Bach: that listening to the pious composer almost persuaded one to become a Christian. Herbert made me feel the same way.
In addition to The Temple, this collection also contains A Priest to the Temple (an instruction manual for country parsons) and a handful of miscellaneous English and Latin poems, as well as Izaak Walton's Life of Herbert—none of which are particularly essential.
One might therefore expect these poems to offer little to the secular reader. Indeed, Herbert takes conscious pains to avoid the elaborate conceits of his peers, writing (for instance) that
The wanton lover in a curious strain
Can praise his fairest fair;
And with quaint metaphors her curlèd hair
Curl o'er again. ("Dullness")
Of course, many secular readers—myself included—find audacious wit and uninhibited invention (see: Donne) to be the cornerstone of poetic merit, which would mean that Herbert's careful restraint is as much artistic vice as it is spiritual virtue.
And this would be so, if it wasn't for Herbert's indisputable poetic genius. For The Temple—the sprawling cycle of poems that lies at the heart of the poet's oeuvre—simply bursts with subtle wordplay, rich allusion and flawless rhyme. Yet perhaps most impressive is Herbert's formal experimentation. With "The Altar" and "Easter Wings," the reader discovers Herbert as one of the forerunners of concrete poetry. And poems like "Paradise" and "A Wreath" boast a union of form and content that would make any Modernist drool.
That a seventeenth century poet-cum-pastor (Herbert) can write sober religious verse that nonetheless resonates with a young ignostic living some 350 years later (myself) must surely say something. And here, I'm reminded of English critic Roger Fry's assessment of Bach: that listening to the pious composer almost persuaded one to become a Christian. Herbert made me feel the same way.
In addition to The Temple, this collection also contains A Priest to the Temple (an instruction manual for country parsons) and a handful of miscellaneous English and Latin poems, as well as Izaak Walton's Life of Herbert—none of which are particularly essential.
March 26, 2025
It’s hard to express just how much Herbert’s poems have helped me during tough times. There’s so much intimacy in his poetry — he’s made me feel seen, understood, held. I read him and I found myself. He puts my thoughts and feelings into words, even those I may not fully realise, and helps me see them plainly too. And through it all, he’s become a friend who points me back to Jesus.
It’s almost impossible to choose a favourite, but Confession and The Dawning are the two poems that have led to real, practical changes in my life. Challenging. Encouraging. Masterpieces.
It’s almost impossible to choose a favourite, but Confession and The Dawning are the two poems that have led to real, practical changes in my life. Challenging. Encouraging. Masterpieces.
April 8, 2025
He is an excellent religious poet; it is both his greatness and his downfall.
His style surpasses that of many of his contemporaries, like Donne. Yet, Herbert only writes as a preacher. If he'd combined his style with the same themes as Donne, he would have reached a higher status. Even the Penguin classics edition I have calls him "the major minor poet". He is major in his poetry per se, minor in his themes.
Herbert is like Drayton -- Michael Drayton, contemporary of shakespeare. This latter had fine poetry as well, yet mixing it with religion and portraying love as a form of torture because the only love one should have is the love of christ. Thus, in this regard Drayton is overpowered by Shakespeare.
An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still,
Wherewith, alas, I have been long possess'd.
...
Thus am I still provok'd to every evil
By this good-wicked spirit, sweet angel-devil.
(Idea 20, Drayton)
He calls his sonnets "Ideas," thus advocating for reason over emotion. This reason, however, finds expression in religion. So, why such talented religious poets are overshadowed by talented irreligious ones? Donne's fame resides in his poems that mock religion. Shakespeare's most famous poems are about irreligiously immoral physical love.
Is it an issue of our age or the age of these poets--namely the Renaissance?
The answer is of course both. The Renaissance is a move from the religious to the secular, so those who linger in the past--the religious-- would be unfavoured by the criteria of their age. Some would say we must respect their swimming against the current of their age, yet their swimming was not adequate for survival in the long term. The only one who upheld the religious without drowning is Spenser, he lingered in the past with his Faerie Queen-- a religious allegory, an epic, a romance of chivalry-- yet it is not smothered, it does not lose its status as one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance, although it swims against the current of the whole age and favours a medieval tradition. What makes it survive, however, is its extra-epochal nature, "extra" meaning beyond; where it draws upon a past tradition, it connects it to the present tradition. It is after all about Queen Elizabeth the Second, she is the Faerie queen. This extra-epochal nature ensures that the work does not survive a single period, but more. A reader of the Faerie Queen will see both Middle Ages and Renaissance, perhaps more. Shakespeare ensured his survival--immortality-- by drawing upon the extra-epochal resources, connecting his Renaissance England with various past traditions. This understanding of past and present ensures future.
What Makes Herbert revelant today if he only preached and discussed pressing matters of his epoch? Nothing. Thus, he offers nothing but some enjoyment of well-structured lines with good syntax and literary diction. His relevance to our age is merely the enjoyment of structural units interacting in lines of poetry. His relevance to his age is of course more than this.
His style surpasses that of many of his contemporaries, like Donne. Yet, Herbert only writes as a preacher. If he'd combined his style with the same themes as Donne, he would have reached a higher status. Even the Penguin classics edition I have calls him "the major minor poet". He is major in his poetry per se, minor in his themes.
Herbert is like Drayton -- Michael Drayton, contemporary of shakespeare. This latter had fine poetry as well, yet mixing it with religion and portraying love as a form of torture because the only love one should have is the love of christ. Thus, in this regard Drayton is overpowered by Shakespeare.
An evil spirit, your beauty, haunts me still,
Wherewith, alas, I have been long possess'd.
...
Thus am I still provok'd to every evil
By this good-wicked spirit, sweet angel-devil.
(Idea 20, Drayton)
He calls his sonnets "Ideas," thus advocating for reason over emotion. This reason, however, finds expression in religion. So, why such talented religious poets are overshadowed by talented irreligious ones? Donne's fame resides in his poems that mock religion. Shakespeare's most famous poems are about irreligiously immoral physical love.
Is it an issue of our age or the age of these poets--namely the Renaissance?
The answer is of course both. The Renaissance is a move from the religious to the secular, so those who linger in the past--the religious-- would be unfavoured by the criteria of their age. Some would say we must respect their swimming against the current of their age, yet their swimming was not adequate for survival in the long term. The only one who upheld the religious without drowning is Spenser, he lingered in the past with his Faerie Queen-- a religious allegory, an epic, a romance of chivalry-- yet it is not smothered, it does not lose its status as one of the greatest achievements of the Renaissance, although it swims against the current of the whole age and favours a medieval tradition. What makes it survive, however, is its extra-epochal nature, "extra" meaning beyond; where it draws upon a past tradition, it connects it to the present tradition. It is after all about Queen Elizabeth the Second, she is the Faerie queen. This extra-epochal nature ensures that the work does not survive a single period, but more. A reader of the Faerie Queen will see both Middle Ages and Renaissance, perhaps more. Shakespeare ensured his survival--immortality-- by drawing upon the extra-epochal resources, connecting his Renaissance England with various past traditions. This understanding of past and present ensures future.
What Makes Herbert revelant today if he only preached and discussed pressing matters of his epoch? Nothing. Thus, he offers nothing but some enjoyment of well-structured lines with good syntax and literary diction. His relevance to our age is merely the enjoyment of structural units interacting in lines of poetry. His relevance to his age is of course more than this.
May 23, 2024
A reminder again that my star ratings of poetry are purely based on my own meagre understanding. The world does not require my judgment on Herbert’s poetry. To me, there were several breathtaking moments in his poems, but most of it was simply nice. I’m quite sure my appreciation would rise with more understanding. Maybe I’ll find a Herbert Handholder at some point!
June 5, 2020
I can’t believe I forgot to track this book— I’m very good at my life.
Anyways, I read this a few weeks ago for Omnibus. The poems were well-written, and they were also good examples of the relationship between the believer and God.
Anyways, I read this a few weeks ago for Omnibus. The poems were well-written, and they were also good examples of the relationship between the believer and God.
January 22, 2020
Wow. The gospel and the Christian life written of so honestly and eloquently. I loved it.
Read
December 17, 2025Titles Read:
“Easter Wings”
-“Affliction (1)”
-“Jordan (1)”
-Jordan (2)”
-“Love (3)”
“Easter Wings”
-“Affliction (1)”
-“Jordan (1)”
-Jordan (2)”
-“Love (3)”
September 21, 2023
I really struggle with Herbert. Half of his poems are beautiful and rich, like ‘Sin’ and ‘Prayer’. Then, the other half are cheesy and gimmicky, like “Iesu” and “Heaven”. Hmm.
November 25, 2024
Though I haven’t read very widely in poetry, especially entire collections, Herbert is undoubtedly my favorite. Sight and music are gifts to read these with.
5 Favs:
The Sacrifice (overall)
Life (most musical)
Easter Wings (coolest shape)
Avarice (funniest)
The Twenty-third Psalm (most peaceful)
5 Favs:
The Sacrifice (overall)
Life (most musical)
Easter Wings (coolest shape)
Avarice (funniest)
The Twenty-third Psalm (most peaceful)
March 1, 2017
Eh, not my kind of thing. Very interesting, though. I would have to say that I like the way he discusses his strong devotion to God because he questioningly does so. I'm a big fan of people that do not blindly follow something without ever second guessing it.
October 7, 2023
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.” Herbert shares his conflicts with John Donne, the archetypal metaphysical poet and a family friend. As well as personal poems, The Temple includes doctrinal poems, notably “The Church Porch,” the first in the volume, and the last, “The Church Militant.” Other poems are concerned with church ritual.
The main resemblance of Herbert’s poems to Donne’s is in the use of common language in the rhythms of speech. Some of his poems, such as “The Altar” and “Easter Wings,” are “pattern” poems, the lines forming the shape of the subject, a practice 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.” Herbert was a versatile master of metrical form and all aspects of the craft of verse.
The main resemblance of Herbert’s poems to Donne’s is in the use of common language in the rhythms of speech. Some of his poems, such as “The Altar” and “Easter Wings,” are “pattern” poems, the lines forming the shape of the subject, a practice 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.” Herbert was a versatile master of metrical form and all aspects of the craft of verse.
November 7, 2016
Herbert's collection of poems, The Temple, is probably the coolest organic collection of lyric poems in existance. The poems are all based on the spiritual life, and together are supposed to build up a spiritual Temple in the reader's heart, so they use different physical objects in a church to represent different bits of spiritual experience. They are aesthetically quaint, you might say, but metrically skillful, psychologically profound, and spiritually revelatory. Very much hard to beat.
This volume also contains Walton's biography of Herbert, which is excellent and heartwarming, as well as Herbert's prose A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson, which is his explaination, given in indicatives rather than imperitives, of how the rural pastor will run his parish. Herbert was himself a country pastor, and this book should be on your shelf.
This volume also contains Walton's biography of Herbert, which is excellent and heartwarming, as well as Herbert's prose A Priest to the Temple, or The Country Parson, which is his explaination, given in indicatives rather than imperitives, of how the rural pastor will run his parish. Herbert was himself a country pastor, and this book should be on your shelf.
May 6, 2019
Apr-May 2019. Reading for joy and to teach. Skipping the essay by Ernest Rhys, the prose selection from "A Priest to the Temple," and the "Jacula Prudentum" material.
December 31, 2025
A desert island book
December 26, 2025
From University of Dallas Literature PhD Reading List:
"(You should know a significant body of the poetry of these poets, but these especially)
George Herbert, "The Altar," "Affliction," "Prayer (I)," "Jordan (I)," "Virtue," "The Pulley," "The Collar," "Easter Wings," "Love (III)"
This is part three of my mission to read the complete works of every poet on the list and memorize the "know especially." I only have The Altar committed to memory (I'm about halfway through Affliction), because I took a pause to memorize T.S. Eliot's Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock for my actual lit class, and that one's really long (it's also further down on the reading list, so I have that one now).
Anyway, I really enjoyed Herbert's poetic voice, he was a very talented man. I liked him much better than John Donne; I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion. His language is simple and yet says so much; he is what my lit teacher would call "clear and concise." But his faith is so simply and fully evident.
"(You should know a significant body of the poetry of these poets, but these especially)
George Herbert, "The Altar," "Affliction," "Prayer (I)," "Jordan (I)," "Virtue," "The Pulley," "The Collar," "Easter Wings," "Love (III)"
This is part three of my mission to read the complete works of every poet on the list and memorize the "know especially." I only have The Altar committed to memory (I'm about halfway through Affliction), because I took a pause to memorize T.S. Eliot's Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock for my actual lit class, and that one's really long (it's also further down on the reading list, so I have that one now).
Anyway, I really enjoyed Herbert's poetic voice, he was a very talented man. I liked him much better than John Donne; I don't know if that's an unpopular opinion. His language is simple and yet says so much; he is what my lit teacher would call "clear and concise." But his faith is so simply and fully evident.
November 10, 2025
I am no Christian, but I adore this poetry. I think that just speaks to the power that derives from its earnestness. Herbert is always, always looking for connection with God through imperfect form: fallen, human, ambiguous, polysemic language. He tries a vast number of metaphors that rack his intellect, his passions, his God. He fails, and blames himself. He fails, and blames God for being so absent. But in some way, I think he succeeds.
There's also a ton of denominational, philosophical, linguistic, formal complexity that is married with simplicity and earnestness of tone unmatched in any other poem.
Herbert, I think, is one of the rare poets who writes like a friend.
There's also a ton of denominational, philosophical, linguistic, formal complexity that is married with simplicity and earnestness of tone unmatched in any other poem.
Herbert, I think, is one of the rare poets who writes like a friend.
August 6, 2021
I have a hard time rating collections of poetry I kind of like it all as long it has a unique voice or perspective. Herbert's voice comes through clearly, which is something particularly nice about poetry collections by a single author. I also like devotional poetry, which this is, and I enjoyed reading it. And it was very interesting to get a peek into 17th century religious life via Herbert's poetry.
July 26, 2020
George Herbert writes love letters to the Lord, then poignantly applies biblical language of idolatry to himself. Delving into this 17th-century small town pastor’s soul can be helpful and enjoyable for modern Christians. I’ll be returning to these poems much like I’ll be returning to Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress.
September 10, 2019
That species of "man" who writes the introductions to books of Poetry, is to be depised. He ranks even lower than the "Admin" and the "Politician", and puts together such nonsense as: "Herbert was a humble man, devoid of humilty.".........the actual poetry in this book is great though.
July 25, 2021
Off the charts for Herbert's poetry itself. 4 /5 for this beloved Patrides edition (the first I ever bought of Herbert), which is still beautifully done, and intentionally sparely annotated, because I'm reserving 5 starts for the magnificently detailed scholarly edition from Helen Wilcox :)
October 30, 2024
It may be that Herbert's Christian faith would put off many readers. But one of the great themes of all literature is an individual's relationship with God. And Herbert is such an exquisite poet. All stars.
March 25, 2019
Without peer
May 13, 2019
4 stars only because the book includes a short biography of Herbert that is not written by him. While good, the biography is not the same as the poetry.
July 17, 2023
So beautiful. A new favorite.
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