The Poetry of George Herbert

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

George Herbert, a seventeenth-century British poet, did give up his political career to become a priest.

Herbert was born the seventh child to Richard and Magdalen Newport Herbert in 1593. His father died only three years after George's birth. Magdalen, from a wealthier, more noble family than the Herberts, took her ten children and returned to live with her widowed mother.

Magdalen was influential in the literary circles of the early seventeenth century, which undoubtedly influenced young George. Magdalen was the patron of fellow British poet John Donne, who delivered the eulogy at Magdalen's funeral in 1627.

George became a scholar at a young age and rose to prominence at Cambridge University. However, he eventually renounced secular professions to become an Anglican priest in his late thirties and was beloved by his parish until his untimely death at age 40 from tuberculosis.

As you read this biography of George Herbert, answer the following questions on a separate sheet of paper.

• What type of education did George Herbert receive as a child?
• To whom were Herbert's first poems addressed?
• How old was Herbert when he published his first poem?
• What jobs did Herbert hold before he became a priest in 1630?
• On what topic did most of Herbert's poems focus?
• When was Herbert's only poetry anthology published?

Even though Herbert wrote poetry for much of his life, he did not consider himself a poet. His only book of poetry was not published until after his death. Herbert's poems mostly reflected the theme of religion.

While Herbert wrote poems in typical verse style, he is most famous today for his shape poems. These shape poems had unusual verse shapes that visually reflected the poem's topic.

For example, if Herbert wanted to write a poem about a star, he would have arranged the words to look like the shape of a star.

You can see an example of a shape poem in the image below. Although the poem is written in French, you can tell what it is about based on its shape.

• What do you think the topic of this shape poem is?

If you guess it was about a horse, you are right!

Move on to the Got It? section to read two of Herbert's most famous shape poems, "The Altar" and "Easter Wings."