Poets

King David is known for many reasons: shepherd, sinner, singer, and psalm writer. The psalms are “music” of emotions, from lament, to joy, to praise, to thanksgiving. Often, one can find events in David’s life that are depicted in the psalms. In some instances, the psalmist instructs in how the psalm should be sung.

Cædmon, the earliest English poet whose name is known, cared for animals and was attached to Whitby Abbey. He was originally ignorant of "the art of song" but learned to compose one night in the course of a dream, according to the 8th-century monk Bede. He later became a zealous monk and an accomplished and inspirational religious poet. Cædmon's only known surviving work is Cædmon's Hymn, a nine-line alliterative vernacular praise poem in honor of God. Cædmon learned to sing in his initial dream. The poem is one of the earliest attested examples of Old English and is, with the runic Ruthwell Cross and Franks Casket inscriptions, one of three candidates for the earliest attested example of Old English poetry. It is also one of the earliest recorded examples of sustained poetry in a Germanic language.

From an early age John Milton loved music. He attended St Paul's school then Cambridge University. After leaving university Milton continued studying at home and wrote poetry. Milton travelled in France and Italy where he met Galileo. When he returned to England he became a schoolteacher. During the civil war began between the king and parliament, John supported parliament. He wrote pamphlets attacking episcopacy and others arguing that divorce should be allowed and yet another in favor of freedom of speech. Milton also worked for the government translating documents into Latin. Fifteen years after he went blind, Milton’s great work Paradise Lost was first printed. Milton was married 3 times. Today he is remembered as the greatest English writer of the 17th century.

William Blake was born in London, where he spent most of his life. His father was a successful London hosier and attracted by the Religious teachings of Emmanuel Swedenborg. Blake was first educated at home, chiefly by his mother. Blake remained very close to his mother and wrote much poetry about her. His parents were also broadly sympathetic with his artistic temperament and encouraged him to collect Italian prints. He found work as an engraver, joining the trade at an early age. He found the early apprenticeship rather boring, but the skills he learnt proved useful throughout his artistic life. During his lifetime Blake never made much money. His engravings and commissioned work drew enough money to survive, but at times he had to rely on the support of some of his close friends. Because of Blake’s temperaments he was not always suited to maintaining friendships. Blake was very much a free spirit who readily spoke his mind, so much so that some acquaintances thought he was mad.

Born in London, educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, John Mason Neale was ordained deacon and priest. At Cambridge, he was a founder of the Cambridge Camden Society. Neale's strong views and associations embroiled him in lifelong controversy preventing any ecclesiastical appointments. Suffering from ill health while abroad, he returned to England where he became warden of Sackville College, a charitable institution in East Grinstead. His extensive charitable efforts included prominently the founding of the nursing Sisterhood of St. Margaret, which eventually came to include an orphanage, a school for girls, and a home for fallen women. He was a prolific writer, authoring some seventy publications and numerous hymns. His works include essays, commentaries, books for children, and a compilation of hymns. Neal's fame as a hymnologist rests not only in his numerous original compositions but also in his translations of ancient and medieval hymns, an area in which he has hardly had an equal.

George Herbert was born in Montgomery, Wales. After his father's death, he and his 6 brothers and 3 sisters were raised by their mother. Herbert was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge. After taking his degrees with distinction, Herbert was elected a major fellow of Trinity, appointed Reader in Rhetoric at Cambridge, and elected public orator. Herbert could have used his post of orator to reach high political office, but instead gave up his secular ambitions. Herbert took holy orders in the Church of England and spent the rest of his life as rector in Bemerton, where he preached and wrote poetry; helped rebuild the church out of his own funds; he cared deeply for his parishioners. He came to be known as "Holy Mr. Herbert" around the countryside in the three years before his death of consumption on March 1, 1633. Herbert's poems are characterized by a precision of language, a metrical versatility, and an ingenious use of imagery or conceits that was favored by the metaphysical school of poets. He has, for readers of the late 20th century, displaced Donne as the supreme Metaphysical poet.