This volume replaces the traditional image of George Herbert as meditative recluse with a portrait of the poet as engaged throughout his life with the religion, politics and society of his time. Instead of an isolated genius living in retreat from the world, Herbert appears as a man writing public verse, active within an important social circle, and committed to nationalistic Protestantism. The book attends to the poetic brilliance of his verse as well as the institutions and contexts that influenced him: the upper class coterie, Cambridge University, and the Church of England.

Acknowledgements Preface and Suggestions for Further Reading Chronology of Herbert's Life Contextual Dates The Sidney-Herbert Coterie Cambridge and University Works 1624 and The Temple 1627 and Herbert's Mother The Temple : Lyrics on Grace, Employment and the Priesthood Afterword: The Country Parson Notes Index

CRISTINA MALCOLMSON is Professor of English at Bates College in the USA and has taught at Yale University and the University of California, Berkeley. She has published Heart-Work: George Herbert and the Protestant Ethic, edited Renaissance Poetry, and co-edited with Professor Mihoko Suzuki Palgrave Macmillan's Debating Gender in Early Modern England, 1500-1700.