George Herbert (1593-1633) belonged to the school of seventeenth-century which included John Donne, Henry Vaughan, Richard Crashaw, Abraham Cowley and Thomas Traherne. Helen Gardner’s introduction to her edition, The Metaphysical Poets (Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1966), is an expert discussion of the leading features of this school. Present-day Bemerton residents have provided an excellent illustrated biography of Herbert: http://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/about/ghb_group.html. I highly recommend also Amy M. Charles, A Life of George Herbert (Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press,1977). Guides to some of Herbert’s best-known and best-loved poems follow. (more…)