George Herbert Poems

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George Herbert
George Herbert (April 3, 1593 – March 1, 1633) was a Welsh poet, orator and a priest. Being born into an artistic and wealthy family, he received a good education which led on to him holding prominent positions at Cambridge University and Parliament. As a student at Trinity College, Cambridge, England, George Herbert excelled in languages and music. He went to college with the intention of becoming a priest, but his scholarship attracted the attention of King James I. Herbert served in parliament for two years. After the death of King James and at the urging of a friend, Herbert's interest in ordained ministry was renewed. In 1630, in his late thirties he gave up his secular ambitions and took holy orders in the Church of England, spending the rest of his life as a rector of the little parish of St. Andrew 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. 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 favored by the metaphysical school of poets He is best remembered as a writer of poems and hymns such as "Come, My Way, My Truth, My Life" and "The King of Love My Shepherd Is." He is commemorated on February 27 throughout the Anglican Communion and on March 1 of the Calendar of Saints of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America.

the apparition
 
 
When by thy scorn, O murd'ress, I am dead
And that thou think'st thee free
From all ... [read poem]
holy sonnets: at the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
 
 
At the round earth's imagin'd corners, blow
Your trumpets, angels, and arise, arise
From d... [read poem]
the dream
 
 
Dear love, for nothing less than thee
Would I have broke this happy dream;
It was ... [read poem]
a valediction: of weeping
 
 
Let me pour forth
My tears before thy face, whilst I stay here,
For thy face coins them, a... [read poem]
love's deity
 
 
I long to talk with some old lover's ghost,
Who died before the god of love was born.
... [read poem]
the sun rising
 
 
Busy old fool, unruly Sun,
Why dost thou thus,
Through windows, and through curt... [read poem]
love's alchemy
 
 
Some that have deeper digg'd love's mine than I,
Say, where his centric happiness doth lie;... [read poem]
lovers' infiniteness
 
 
If yet I have not all thy love,
Dear, I shall never have it all;
I cannot breathe one othe... [read poem]
a nocturnal upon st. lucy's day
 
 
'Tis the year's midnight, and it is the day's,
Lucy's, who scarce seven hours herself unmasks;... [read poem]
elegy ix: the autumnal
 
 
No spring nor summer beauty hath such grace
As I have seen in one autumnal face.
You... [read poem]
a lame begger
 
 
I am unable, yonder beggar cries,
To stand, or move; if he say true, he lies.
song: sweetest love, i do not go
 
 
Sweetest love, I do not go,
For weariness of thee,
Nor in hope the world can show... [read poem]
resignation
 
 
I love you
because the earth turns round the sun
because the North wind blows north... [read poem]
holy sonnets: since she whom i lov'd hath paid her last debt
 
 
Since she whom I lov'd hath paid her last debt
To nature, and to hers, and my good is dead,... [read poem]
satire iv
 
 
Well; I may now receive, and die. My sin
Indeed is great, but yet I have been in
A purgato... [read poem]
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