ABSTRACT
‘George Herbert is one of the best English lyric poets.’ The considered judgment of Joseph H. Summers at the very beginning of his study of Herbert in 1954 ( 1 ) is by no means representative of critical attitudes up to that time. On the contrary, Herbert’s reputation has fluctuated greatly since his major work, ‘The Temple’, was first published soon after his death in 1633. Indeed, the eventual ‘discovery’ of Herbert – more properly, perhaps, his ‘re-discovery’ – was not even the direct consequence of the meteoric rise earlier in our century of the poet with whom he has been most persistently associated, John Donne.
