Herbert's Poetry example essay topic

290 words
George Herbert's poetry sounds a genuine note of contrition and humility. when he new that he would die of consumption, he charged his friend Nicholas Ferrari of Little Gilding with the fate of his poems, collected in The Temple, saying that he might burn them unless they might 'turn to the advantage of any dejected soul'. if this request seems modest, and all the more genuine for the poet seeking an expressly post humus fame, then it represents a triumph of Herbert's spirituality over his earlier, worldly achievements. for he was a fellow at Cambridge, and university Public Orator there. the former post obliged him to take holy orders within the seven years, while the latter introduced him to court circles. he did not become a priest when statuses dictated, but rather when he was ready. throughout his poetry, there is rage, and resistance to the religious life, always yielding to a quiet submission to the will of god; while we recognise the struggle, we know we are reading the work of an anglican priest. this shows in his use of the book of Common Prayer, and in his poems on the sacramnets, on the church calendar or specific services; but more immediately, it shows his verbal music. he uses anthem forms, with antiphons and hymns, and was a keen musician. this gives his thought a beguiling kind of simplicity, as opposed to Donne's meanings press and screw. herbert tend to invoke things as well as arguments to convey his message, describing a state of mind, such as sinne or prayer, in verb less clauses. although he draws on rhetoric to convince, as a preacher might, the conviction and repentance remains a personal one, born of self examination. major works.