Tonight I sit in my office, soaking up George Herbert's delicate blend of truth and beauty. Herbert does what no modern artist can do for me. As I read lines that have been swriling through my head since I first read them a dozen years ago, Herbert's words speak of holiness and repentance and make them fresh and beautiful.
Perhaps I'm a product of my times, but I think that few people can wax didactic without destroying every bit of aesthetic appeal in their work. One reason, perhaps, is that their own humanity (or more spefically, the failure intrinsic in their own humanity) just makes their words sound hollow.
There is safety in Herbert. He is far enough removed from me that I know nothing of his own failures. There's no doubt that he, like all of us, was a mixed bag, a chiaroscuro good and evil, a reforming sinner wearing a pious face that masked a legion of wickedness within. Those close to him would have noticed his own faults, whether a hot temper or a roving eye or Phariseeical piety or whatever sin he was prone to.
But I get to view him at a distance. I can gaze in admiration, if only because I'm too far off to see his blemishes and deformities. Baptized in antiquity, sanctified by chronological distance, he has become a hero of the faith.
There's a reason they saint people only after they die.
Posted by jonsligh at December 11, 2005 01:08 AMHerbert is one of my favorite poets ever.
Eliot likes to point out the fact that we have both pre- and post-conversion poetry from Donne, but only post-conversion from Herbert, which is one reason we revere him as a saint.
I get the impression that Herbert was the kind of gent who would redirect any praise to the Creator.
Any favorite poems of his?
Yes, I think Herbert would be a humble kind of guy.
My favorite has always been "The Altar." If I saw it for the first time now, I mightwould think it choppy and the altar-shaped format to be contrived. But it's been one of my favs since junior high. I'm too nostalgic to dislike it now. I also like "The Collar."
Overall I guess my appreciation of Herbert is more devotional than aesthetic.
Did he write any prose?
Posted by: sligh at December 12, 2005 02:31 AMHe wrote a short book called The Country Parson, His Character, and Rule of Holy Life. It's interesting, not difficult to read, and has a lot of connections with his poems.
He has a couple other short works. You can find them here.
Definitely, more devotional than aesthetic. But I find it hard to be devotional in the absence of aesthetics. Say, like at a holiness church. :-) Or reading Helen Steiner Rice.
Some of my favorite Herbert poems:
"The Sacrifice"
"The Agony"
"Good Friday"
"Redemption"
"Prayer (1)"
"Jordan (1)"
"Christmas"
"Man"
"The Elixir"
"Love (3)"
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