Herbert, George 1593-1633
English metaphysical poet and clergyman

He was the son of Lady Magdalen Herbert (to whom John Donne addressed his Holy Sonnets) and brother of Edward Herbert (of Cherbury). Educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge, he was elected a Fellow there (1614) and Public Orator (1619), and was MP for Montgomery (1624-25). His connection with the court, and particularly the favour of King James VI and I, seemed to point to a worldly career, but in 1630, under the influence of Archbishop Laud, he took orders and spent his last years as a parish priest of Bemerton, in Wiltshire. Like his friend Nicholas Ferrar, he represents both in his life and works the counter-challenge of the Laudian party to the Puritans. He died of consumption at the age of 39. Practically all his religious lyrics are included in The Temple, Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, posthumously published in 1633. His chief prose work, A Priest in the Temple, containing guidance for the country parson, was published in his Remains (1652).

Bibliography: J B Leishman, The Metaphysical Poets (1934); J J D Faniell, The Life of George Herbert of Bemerton (1902)