George Herbert, 17th century Anglican thinker and poet who chose the humble life of a rural parish

priest rather than court preferment, has proven to be an Anglican writer for all times and places. Once viewed as quaint and unsophisticated, Herbert enjoyed a revival of interest with Anglican poet TS Eliots investigation of the Metaphysical Poets in the early 20th century. Even after Eliot, however, Herberts work was considered to be of somewhat lesser significance than that of another great Anglican priest-poet of the time, John Donne. Not the case, I would venture. Herberts art as a poet is quite different from Donnes and both stand in the centre of Anglican poetry for different reasons. So focussing on Herbert for the time being, what is it that suggests he speaks strongly to the post modern Anglican context that we find ourselves in? Post modern Anglicans tend to see their life in Jesus Christ through the metaphor of journey. That journey, whether supported by use of a labyrinth, a specific set of spiritual exercises and practices or the development of intentional community, stresses relationship with God and the world over dogma and propositional statements about God. Herberts 17th century poetic art both in its form and content speaks to the futility of fixing God in dogma or doctrinal pronouncement. It speaks directly to the appreciation of wholeness achieved by living in the Divine Presence and connecting to others through the Mission of God of which we are all a part. Herbert loves the questions rather than the answers. His desire is to achieve spiritual as well as artistic simplicity which gets straight to the heart of a living relationship with God and clearly focuses on the primacy of mission and ministry. Herberts great sequence of lyric poems, The Temple, represents a journeying, self-reflecting, questioning individual. Indeed, The Temple is a poetic journal reflection of the most personal kind expressing the journey to wholeness in Christ in life and in art. Here is a major difference between Herbert and Donne; for the latter does not consciously engage in such a journey or quest through purposeful moulding of a lyrical sequence. As a whole, then, The Temple embodies in a definite context of seventeenth century Anglican devotion the story of an unfolding awareness of the Divine Presence in the life of the individual, and of the ultimate participation of the soul in that divine harmony which emanates from union with its creator and perpetual mover. From this journey flows participation in the Mission of God. So it is interesting to look at Herberts awareness of himself in relation to his spirituality and his art in a way that is guided by the dramatic development which the poems of The Temple clearly embody. In forging the expression of these essential relationships with God and the world in Herberts own life, Herbert creates a new combination some cultural traditions of his time including the use of a dramatic lyric sequence best expressed in Herberts time by Sir Philip Sidney (1554-1586) in his Astrophel and Stella sonnet sequence, and the spiritual meditative Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius Loyola (1491-1556), founder of the Jesuits. Like some post-modern Christians, Herbert, in his age, ransacked (as TS Eliot might say) older traditions and combined them in new ways.

Herberts echoes of Loyola, then, represent the ideal of simplicitas as a spiritual goal expressed through Sidneys quest for simplicitas as an artistic ideal fit to express the hearts deepest thoughts. Consider Sonnet 28 of Astrophel and Stella: You that with allegorys curious frame Of others children changeling use to make, With me those pains for Gods sake do not take: I list not dig so deep for brazen fame. When I say Stella, I do mean the same Princess of beauty, for whose only sake The reins of Love I love, though never slake, And Joy therein, though nations count it shame. I beg no subject to use eloquence, Nor in hid ways to guide Philosophy: Look at my hands for no such quintessence; But know that I in pure simplicity Breathe out the flames which burn within my heart Love only reading unto me this art.

The poet-lover symbolically renounces aspiration to brazen fame through disassociating himself from the accepted complexities of his art, and dedicating himself to the creation of praise more pleasing to his lady. Samuel Daniel (1562-1619) expresses a similar sentiment in his sonnet sequence, Delia: Let others sing of Knights and Palladines, In aged accents, and untimely words: Paint shadowes in imaginary lines, Which well the reach of their high wits records; But I must sing of thee and those faire eyes, Authentique shall my verse in time to come, 2

When yet th unborne shall say, loe where she lyes, Whose beautie made him speak that els was dombe. There are the Arkes the Tropheis I erect, That fortify thy name against old age, And these thy sacred verities must protect, Against the Darke and times consuming rage. Though th error of my youth they shall discover, Suffice they shed I livd and was thy lover. (Samuel Daniel, Delia, Sonnet XLVI)

Both Sidney and Daniel protest the adequacy and indeed the supremacy of their simplified art as against learned rhetoric and lyric complexities which may fail to convey sincerity: Let dainty wits cry on the Sisters nine, That bravely maskd their fancies may be told: Or, Pindars apes, flaunt they in phrases fine, Enamling with pied flowers their thoughts of gold. Or else let them in statelier glory shine, Ennobling new found tropes with problems old, Or with strange similes enrich each line, Of herbs or beasts which Inde or Afric hold. For me in sooth, no Muse but one I know: Phrases and problems from my reach do grow, And strange things cost too dear for my poor sprites. How then? Even thus: in Stellas face I read What love and beauty be, then all my deed But copying is, what in her Nature writes. 3

(Astrophel and Stella, Sonnet III)

The artistic irony in all this for Sidney is this: For Stella, Sidney-Astrophel creates the impression of unvarnished plainness and simplicity; for the reader, however, he includes a larger perspective which at once is able to share Stellas position and yet go beyond it to share the real complexity of the poets rhetoric and lyric craftsmanship. Herbert does the same applying it to creating a self-reflective spiritual journey. More of that in Part Two. Having come to understand a more complete picture of the reality of his relationship to God and his response to God as human being and poet, the narrative voice in The Temple is now able to embrace the sacrifice of of Jesus personally through symbolic baptism. H.Baptisme I contrasts markedly with earlier poems which epress the speakers attempts to meet God on his own terms by measuring his own sinfulness against the love displayed in the Jesus story. In this later poem, he demonstrates that he is now able to accept that love through faith as he realizes that God alone is the one to measure: Redemption measures all my time (H. Baptisme I, l. 10). In H. Baptisme II, he completes his present act of dedication by acknowledging the image or the presence of God in his life in terms of simplicity. In identifying himself as a child of God, he is made simple, compete, or whole as he submits to the transcendental reality which he has acknowledged as the source of both life and art: O let me still Write thee great God, and me a childe: Let me be soft and supple to thy will, Small to my self, to others mild, Behither ill. Although by stealth My flesh get on, yet let her sister My soul bid nothing, but preserve her wealth: The growth of flesh is but a blister; Childhood is health. (H. Baptisme II, ll. 6-15)

So simplicity of spirit ultimately is shown forth in simplicity in art specifically poetry in Herberts case. In the eight poems from Nature to Antiphon I, Herbert goes on to consider in greater detail the whole probe of human response to God a theme that has been developing implicitly and explicitly since The Altar. Following his symbolic act of dedication in H. Baptisme I and H. Baptisme II, he is keenly aware of human weakness and his need for total dependence on God. Then, more particularly in the eight poems between Love I and The H. Scriptures II, he considers poetry itself as a response. The beginnings of self-knowledge which he experienced in the poems following The Sacrifice provide a solid foundation for these more detailed phases of self-examination. In the former group which moves generally from a discussion of humanitys state in nature to its state in grace, and concludes with a song in praise of that grace. In Nature, the soul is described as full of rebellion (Nature, l. 1), rejecting the disciplined life of simplicity described in Sinne I which One cunning bosome-sin blows quite away (Sinne I, l. 14: Lord, with what care hast thou begirt us round! Parents first season us: then school masters Deliver us to laws; they send us bound To rules of reason, holy messengers, Pulpits and Sundayes, sorrow dogging sinne, Afflictions sorted, anguish of all sizes, Fine nets and stratagems to catch us in, Bibles laid open, millions of surprises, Blessings beforehand, ties of gratefulness, The sound of glorie ringing in our eares: Without, our shame; within, our consciences; Angels and grace, eternall hopes and fears. Yet all these fences and their whole aray One cunning bosome-sinne blows quite away. (Sinne I) *note the sonnet form+

The fences that Herbert describes are those things which God provides for the guidance of Gods children walking in the way of simplicity. Through the fences of God, life is given a single purpose, wholeness and unit in short, simplicity in the renaissance devotional sense. 5

This extended focus on appropriate human responses to God comes to a climactic moment in The H. Communion which in expressing Gods ultimate response to humanity in terms of simplicity gives evidence of new insights that will help the poet /speaker in his own response to God as human being and as poet. In The Sacrifice, we saw the simplicity of Christ manifest. In The H. Communion, we see, through the sacramental Eucharist,the perpetuating of that simplicity in Gods continuing response to humanity: Not in rich furniture, or fine away, Nor in a wedge of gold, Thou, who for me wast sold, For so thou shouldst without me still have been, Leaving within me sinne: But by the way of nourishment and strength Thou creepst into my breast; Making thy way my rest, And thy small quantities my length; Which spread their forces into every part, Meeting sinnes force and art. (The H. Communion, ll. 1-12)

The reality of God (the essence of which Herbert perceives is simplicity unity, wholeness) comes to the speaker in terms of a simplicity he can understand in a human context; a simplicity which stands in contrast with ornateness and complexity exemplified by the force and art of sin. In plainest terms, Gods spiritual simplicity is manifest in Gods uncomplicated response to humanity. Gods truth and ways are simple. Moreover, the concrete terms of verse one which convey the contrast between ornate complexity and Gods response to humanity in simplicity carry very definite artistic connotations. There is a rejection of ornament in favour of embracing a reality which is simplicity. The opening lines of the poem sound very much, in fact, like a Sidneian rejection of poetic embellishment in favour of a plain simplicity, and indeed we shall see other similar rejections of poetic ornament in The Temple itself. But at this point, in The H. Communion, Herbert is definitely transferring his spiritual awareness of simplicity into aesthetic terms as he becomes increasingly concerned with his own desire to imitate and radiate the reality of God and of Divine truth in his art.

In this approach to unifying form and substance, spiritual and linguistic, Herbert is unique among poets. His accomplishment in The Temple is far greater than is generally acknowledged among those who appreciate Anglican art and spirituality and the relationship between the two. We turn next to some of the theological implications of Herberts unique approach to art and life developed in a context of meditative spirituality.

As an Anglican poet, Herbert sensed very real tensions about the nature and function of his art as he searches for an ideal art to offer both God and a community of human readers. Like Sidney and Daniels, he wrestles with the role of the artifice of language in addressing his dual audience. The question becomes, what is an ideal poetic art in terms of simplicity and complexity which will meet the expectations of a distinct and radically different dual audience? Fortunately a look at specific poems in The Temple in their dramatic context the individual journeying to God through art provides insight into Herberts solution to his artistic dilemma. Herbert invites us to journey with him in his search for simplicity as he seeks to resolve his own artistic and spiritual quest focussed on perfecting both life and art in the image of God. A good place for us to start this journey with George Herbert is to observe the quest for simplicity that is basic to his religious and artistic experience and expressed in the dramatic structure of The Temple itself. We can readily identify the significance of simplicity as a spiritual ideal, and then trace Herberts transferring of that ideal to his conception of his art. Such an appreciation of The Temple opens up distinct thematic patterns that emerge at different times and ultimately come together to resolve the problem of simplicity and art with which one of our chief Anglican poets concerns himself. As a spiritual ideal, a state of simplicity of heart came to be, in late Renaissance devotional writing, equated with a heightened, and at times even mystical awareness of God in the individual soul. An individual, through practicing the presence of God, could be finally united to God, and be made simple in the likeness of God. The image of God was conceived of, to a large extent, in terms of an ultimate simplicity which expressed the unity, or oneness and perfection of the Divine Godhead. The great 15th Catholic theologian and devotional writer Savonarola (now a TV star thundering down the wrath of God on the Borgia papacy of Alexander VI) wrote in his treatise De Simplicitate Christianae Vitae: Simplicity of heart requires purgation from earthly affections, in order that the whole spirit and the whole soul should may be directed toward God, and may become like unto God, that the whole man may be made simple (unified, whole) in the likeness of God.For the contemplation of Divine things requires the greatest tranquillity of heart: and therefore he who wishes to enjoy Divine illuminations must remove himself as far as possible from the clamour of this world (ie. the complexity or enmity with God) which separates creature from creator.Therefore the more each man shall strive to achieve simplicity in his proper degree, the greater consolations he shall receive from Christ. (Book 2, Conclusion I, De Simplicitate). 7

Forgiving, I hope, Savonarolas obvious sexism here, we can see a key devotional concept still popular and much written about and practiced in Herberts 17th century Anglican world. For Herbert, then, the desire for an ideal simplicity in life and art gives birth to one of the most powerful and significant thematic movements in The Temple : the poet/personas search for his own utmost art in terms of the whole journey of the spirit which The Temple portrays: Praise. (II) King of Glorie, King of Peace, I will love thee: And that love may never cease, I will move thee. Thou hast granted my request, Thou hast heard me: Thou didst note my working breast, Thou hast spard me. Wherefore with my utmost art I will sing thee, And the cream of all my heart I will bring thee. Thou my sinnes against me cried, Thou didst cleare me; And alone, when they replied, Thou didst heare me. Sevn whole days, not one in seven, I will praise thee. In my heart, though not in heaven, I can raise thee. Thou grewst soft and moist with tears, 8

Thou relentedst: And when Justice calld for fears, Thou disentedst. Small it is, in this poor sort To enroll thee: Evn enternitie is to short To extoll thee.

God, as the ultimate image of simplicity or uncomplicated unity, wholeness or integrity responds to humanity out of that simplicity of being; the implication is that one must ultimately respond in similar terms to God through both life and art as one seeks to embrace the infinite love of God. There is definitely something very contemporary about that approach to ones relationship to the mission of God that reaches, often dramatically, outside the established religious institutions so often not trusted by, in particular, western post modernism.

George Herbert (3 April 1593 1 March 1633) was a Welsh-born English poet, orator and Anglican priest. 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."[1] 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.[citation needed] In 1624 and briefly in 1625 he served in Parliament.[2] After the death of King James, Herbert's interest in ordained ministry was renewed. In his mid-thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as the rector of the little parish of Fugglestone St Peter with Bemerton, near 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".[3] Never a healthy man, he died of consumption at the early age of 39.

Throughout his life, he wrote religious poems characterized by a precision of language, a metrical versatility, and an ingenious use of imagery or conceits that was favoured by the metaphysical school of poets.[4] Charles Cotton described him as a "soul composed of harmonies".[5] Some of Herbert's poems have endured as popular hymns, including "King of Glory, King of Peace" (Praise): "Let All the World in Every Corner Sing" (Antiphon) and "Teach me, my God and King" (The Elixir).[6] Herbert's first biographer, Izaak Walton, wrote that he composed "such hymns and anthems as he and the angels now sing in heaven".[7]

Biography Early life and education George Herbert was born 3 April 1593 in Montgomery, Powys, Wales, the son of Richard Herbert, Lord of Cherbury (d. 1596) and his wife Magdalen ne Newport, the daughter of Sir Richard Newport (1511 70). He was one of ten 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 high sheriff and later custos rotulorum (keeper of the rolls) of Montgomeryshire. His mother, Magdalen, was a patron and friend of clergyman and poet John Donne and other poets, writers and artists. Donne would stand in as George's godfather after Lord Herbert's death when George was three years old.[8][9] In later years, Herbert's elder brother Edward (who assumed his late father's barony) was a soldier, diplomat, historian, poet, and philosopher whose religious writings led to his reputation as the "father of English deism".[10] Herbert entered Westminster School at or around the age of 12 where he became a day pupil,[11] although later he was elevated to the level of residential scholar. He was admitted on scholarship to Trinity College, Cambridge in 1609, where he graduated first with a Bachelor's and then with a Master's degree in 1616 at the age of 23.[12] Subsequently he was elected a major fellow of his college and then appointed Reader in Rhetoric. In 1620 he sought and attained election to the post of the University's Public Orator, whose duties would be served by his fluency in Latin and Greek. He held this position until 1628.[13] In 1624, influenced by his kinsman the 3rd Earl of Pembroke, Herbert became a Member of Parliament, representing Montgomery.[14] While these positions were suited to a career at court, and King James I had shown him favour, circumstances worked against him: the King died in 1625, and two influential patrons also died at about the same time. However George Herbert's service to parliament may have ended already because, although a Mr Herbert is mentioned as a committee member, there is no record in the Commons Journal for 1625 of Mr. George Herbert (a distinction carefully made in the records of the preceding parliament).[15]

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Priesthood St Andrew's Church in Bemerton, Wiltshire, where George Herbert served as rector and in which he was buried In 1629, Herbert decided to enter the priesthood and was appointed rector of the small rural parish of Fugglestone St Peter with Bemerton, near Salisbury in Wiltshire, about 75 miles south west of London. Here he lived, preached and wrote poetry; he also helped to rebuild the Bemerton church and rectory out of his own funds.[16] While at Bemerton, Herbert revised and added to his collection of poems entitled The Temple. He also wrote a guide to rural ministry entitled A Priest to the Temple or, The County Parson His Character and Rule of Holy Life, which he himself described as "a Mark to aim at", and which has remained influential to this day. Having married shortly before taking up his post, he and his wife gave a home to three orphaned nieces. Together with their servants, they crossed the lane for services in the small St Andrew's church twice every day.[7] Twice a week Herbert made the short journey into Salisbury to attend services at the Cathedral, and afterwards would make music with the cathedral musicians. [17] But his time at Bemerton was short. Having suffered for most of his life from poor health, in 1633 Herbert died of consumption only three years after taking holy orders.[18] Shortly before his death, he sent the manuscript of The Temple to Nicholas Ferrar, the founder of a semi-monastic Anglican religious community at Little Gidding (a name best known today through the poem Little Gidding by T. S. Eliot), reportedly telling him to publish the poems if he thought they might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul", otherwise to burn them. Thanks to Ferrar, they were published not long after his death. Writings Herbert's "Easter Wings", a pattern poem in which the work is not only meant to be read, but its shape is meant to be appreciated. In this case, the poem was printed (original image here shown) on two facing pages of a book, sideways, so that the lines suggest two birds flying upward, with wings spread out. Herbert wrote poetry in English, Latin and Greek. In 1633 all of Herbert's English poems were published in The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, with a preface by Nicholas Ferrar. The book went through eight editions by 1690.[19] According to Walton, when Herbert sent the book to Ferrar he said that "he shall find in it 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".[7] The poems imitate the architectural style of churches through both the meaning of the words and their visual layout. The themes of God and love are treated by Herbert as psychological forces as much as metaphysical phenomena. All of Herbert's surviving English poems are religious, and some have been used as hymns. They are characterised by directness of expression and some conceits which can appear quaint. Many of the poems have intricate rhyme schemes, and variations of lines within stanzas; according to Helen Vendler, 11

"a cascade of form floats through the temple".[20] William Cowper said of them "I found in them a strain of piety which I could not but admire".[21] An example of Herberts religious poetry is The Altar. A "pattern poem in which the words of the poem itself form a shape suggesting an altar, and this altar becomes his conceit for how one should offer himself as a sacrifice to the Lord. He also makes allusions to scripture, such as Psalm 51:17, where it states that the Lord requires the sacrifice of a broken heart and a contrite spirit. 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". It was first published in 1652 as part of Herbert's Remains, or Sundry Pieces of That Sweet Singer, Mr. George Herbert, edited by Barnabas Oley. The first edition was prefixed with unsigned preface by Oley, which was used as one of the sources for Izaak Walton's biography of Herbert, first published in 1670. The second edition appeared in 1671 as A Priest to the Temple or the Country Parson, with a new preface, this time signed by Oley. Like many of his literary contemporaries, Herbert was a collector of proverbs. His Outlandish Proverbs[22] was published in 1640, listing over 1000 pithy aphorisms in English, but gathered from many countries (in Herbert's day, 'outlandish' meant foreign). The collection included many sayings still repeated to this day, for example "His bark is worse than his bite" and "Who is so deaf, as he that will not hear?". All these plus a further 150 proverbs were included in a later collection entitled Jacula Prudentum (sometimes seen as Jacula Prudentium), dated 1651 and published in 1652 as part of Oley's Herbert's Remains. Richard Baxter said, "Herbert speaks to God like one that really believeth a God, and whose business in the world is most with God. Heart-work and heaven-work make up his books". Dame Helen Gardner adds "head-work" because of his "intellectual vivacity". Legacy George Herbert is commemorated on 27 February throughout the Anglican Communion and on 1 March of the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America. There are stained glass windows depicting Herbert or his poetry in several churches and cathedrals, including Westminster Abbey.[23] St Andrew's church in Bemerton has a memorial window portraying Herbert and Nicholas Ferrar.

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