Herbert: Poems and Prose , selected by W.H. Auden

Összefoglaló

W.H. Auden selected and wrote an introduction for this collection of George Herbert's (1593 - 1633) poetry and prose. The fifth son of a minor noble, Herbert was a gifted young man who became a Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge, at the ripe age of 23. (Perhaps some money exchanged hands...) He came to the attention of no less a patron than King James I, but his ambition to become Secretary of State was dashed when James died in 1625. His successor was less impressed with Herbert. So, a fifth son had now the usual two choices - the army or the church. (Since there wasn't much of a standing army then, he really only had one choice.) In any case, Herbert was consumptive - it eventually killed him at 40 - so the church it was. He was assigned a tiny rural parish on the Salisbury Plain in 1630 (apparently, this time money did not exchange hands) and spent the few remaining years of his life edifying his parishioners.