Herbert: The Complete English Works (Everyman's Library)

"Who would have thought my shrivel'd heart / Could have recovered greennesse." In 1998, after a visit to Charleville, Rimbaud's birthplace in northeastern France, I went to Bemerton, near Salisbury in England, where George Herbert lived and preached the last three years of his life. Rimbaud hated Charleville and was repelled by its Sunday-dinner respectability; he wanted only to escape it, and the day I spent there, wandering alone, left me troubled and saddened. In contrast entirely, the modest church of Saint Andrew's in Lower Bemerton seemed a perfect and moving mirror of Herbert's work and character; seeing the altar beneath which Herbert is buried, I was moved to tears of gratitude. Christianity permeated the great English poetry of the seventeenth century and no one succeeded above Herbert in letting it be the whole and everyday life of his work. From Donne he inherited the intellectually and syntactically knotted style that Johnson mockingly dubbed "Metaphysical," and Donne is perhaps a poet of greater moments, of greater range and intensity. But Herbert goes with us on our way: his poems are more trimmed and homely than Donne's, Traherne's, or the Catholic Crashaw's, more vividly ordinary than Vaughan's. With the pastorate at Bemerton, Herbert abandoned connection and courtly ambition; the choice delivered him, and shaped and reflected his best gifts. He can be startlingly modern in diction, as when he calls prayer "Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul's blood, / The land of spices; something understood." But the informing modesty, the love and gratitude over elemental things, can seem both special to his time and a rarity in any day. One of the best entries in the recently resuscitated Everyman's Library from Knopf is Anne Pasternak Slater's edition of THE COMPLETE ENGLISH WORKS of Herbert: it includes the verse, prose works, letters, an entertaining collection of "Outlandish Proverbs," and Walton's biography; the introduction is good and the notes are excellent and helpful. For a lovely and keenly-felt appreciation, read "George Herbert and the River Valley Route," the sixth chapter of Ronald Blythe's DIVINE LANDSCAPES (Harcourt Brace, 1986). Still the best anthology of the Metaphysicals is the one edited and introduced by Helen Gardner, THE METAPHYSICAL POETS (Oxford, second edition 1967).Glenn Shea, from Glenn's Book Notes at www.bookbarnniantic.com

To keep this brief and to the point, I had long believed that the poem "Easter" was actually two separate poems due to the divisions in Vaughn-Williams "Five Mystical Songs". I had caught a comment about it in an article and realized I needed a better edition of Herbert's Works than I had. The Everyman's Library has never let me down and certainly has come through once again with a beautifully put together edition. "Wings" was printed the way it was intended to be seen. Herbert's Christian mysticism is incredibly strong and the poems are absolutely beautiful. "The Call" can still be found in at least the English and Episcopal Hymnals even to this day and its message is very powerful in its simplicity and grace.

This is such a beautiful edition of a beautiful poet. The layout and typeface are exemplary, and the Introduction and Notes (particularly the Notes) are simply terrific. Everyman and Slater are to be congratulated. This is now my "walking around" Herbert, replacing Patrides (which is still worthy if you can find it). (This edition does not have the early versions -- usually referred to as MS Jones B62 -- which is not all that important, except there are one or two lines that one will miss (e.g. Church Porch 367-8 draft: "Leave not thine own deere country cleanliness/ffor this ffrench sluttery")). (Ah, college days.....).

Beautiful book with an understated book jacket that seems perfectly suited to the intelligent, elegant, devotional poetry of George Herbert. No question about it, Herbert was a poet to be reckoned with. His verse is extremely stylized and contains complex structures and brilliant rhyming and meter. Nevertheless, they are all about his faith and about the church. Not being much into traditional religious faith, I find his poems, though indisputably brilliant, unsatisfying in that, unlike Donne's, they're all about the same thing--his undying devotion to his God. Nothing wrong with that; it's just that it gets to be like readng the same poem over and over. The same could be said, I suppose, about poems about romantic love. There are other things to think and write about besides love and religion. Nevertheless, he was a master poet and anyone who writes verse could learn a great deal from Herbert. It's a beautiful edition with a great lay-out, helpful introduction, and a slender little gold ribbon for holding one's place.

I'm no great student of English Literature, but as a country church pastor, I love Herbert's poetry and his commitment to talking about his faith and his faith struggles through poetry and prose. He exposes some of the inner life of pastors within his poetry and his other writings in this collection and what it shows me is how little things have actually changed. We may live in a far more secular world than he lived in, but giving room for the time and place it was written, many of his wonderful verses continue to have power and insight. I purchased this book because it was inexpensive and contained the complete breadth of Herbert's work. The font is very readable and each work is spaced nicely on the pages. Buy it and enjoy some Herbert!

Superb edition of the complete English poetry of George Herbert. Very classy. Excellent price. Highly recommended.

This is a must addition to any thinking Christian's library. Herbert, contemporary of Shakespeare, weaves prosaic and rhyming lines with utmost artistry, expression, and Christian devotion. His works stands out among writers of every century, and not limited to Christian writers in particular.

very good book

Great book.