Monthly Archives: December 2021

Of Christ’s Inn and Shepherds

An Advent Retreat with George Herbert, Day Twenty: Christmas Eve George Herbert wrote a poem named Christmas and so we will close our Advent retreat with it, anticipating the late evening Christ Mass and the celebration on Christmas Day. Christmas … Continue reading

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Anthropoangelic Praise

An Advent Retreat with George Herbert, Day Nineteen: Thursday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent As we approach Christmas we should turn to praise. Here is another poem named Antiphon, by which Herbert means a chorus sung by two choirs … Continue reading

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Form and Content: “Trinity Sunday”

An Advent Retreat with George Herbert, Day Eighteen: Wednesday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent To demonstrate that Herbert was not a true Puritan, one need only look at his poems on feast days. He wrote about Good Friday, Easter, … Continue reading

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Mr Herbert’s Sunday Service

An Advent Retreat with George Herbert, Day Seventeen: Tuesday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent Struck by yesterday’s poem The Agony I raised the question about what kind of churchmanship Herbert belonged to. Following the Restoration his The Country Parson … Continue reading

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The Cost of Sweating Blood

An Advent Retreat with George Herbert, Day Sixteen: Monday after the Fourth Sunday of Advent Enough with difficult Greek poems, today we return to the sequence near the beginning of The Temple. As with the previous four poems, it deals … Continue reading

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“When I Mourn My Mother, I Do So In Ancient Greek”

An Advent Retreat with George HerbertDay Fifteen: Saturday after the Third Sunday of Advent And now for something completely different: a poem, not from The Temple but from one of the other published works by George Herbert – in Greek! … Continue reading

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Seizure in Retaliation

An Advent Retreat with George HerbertDay Fourteen: Friday after the Third Sunday of Advent My apologies for not getting this out yesterday! Thursday was a busy day, and by the time I turned my mind to completing this post, I … Continue reading

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The Fool in The Temple

An Advent Retreat with George HerbertDay Thirteen: Wednesday after the Third Sunday of Advent In today’s poem we return to the near beginning of The Temple with The Thanksgiving. This is only the sixth poem in the whole work. The … Continue reading

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George Herbert, Intertextualist

An Advent Retreat with George HerbertDay Twelve: Tuesday after the Third Sunday of Advent The H. Scriptures II Oh that I knew how all thy lights combine,             And the configurations of their glory!             Seeing not only how each verse doth … Continue reading

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George Herbert’s ‘Naive Melody’

An Advent Retreat with George HerbertDay Eleven: Monday after the Third Sunday of Advent The H. Scriptures I Oh Book! infinite sweetness! let my heart    Suck ev’ry letter, and a honey gain,    Precious for any grief in any part;To clear … Continue reading

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