“George Herbert: Poet-Priest”

The countdown to the conference has begun! Our first talk "George Herbert: Poet-Preacher" will be given by Dr. John Baxter and will take place on Tuesday, June 23rd at 7:30 pm. Here’s a bit more about our speaker and the themes he will address in this talk:

John Baxter is Professor Emeritus of English at Dalhousie University. He is the author of Shakespeare’s Poetic Styles (1980; rpr. Routledge, 2005) and co-editor of Aristotle’s Poetics by George Whalley (McGill-Queen’s, 1997). Recent articles include: “Learning to Spell: ‘Church-monuments’ and the Art of Reading,” The George Herbert Journal, Volume 44 (2023): 63-83; and “George Herbert’s ‘The Church-porch’ and the Native Plain Style,” The George Herbert Journal, Volume 46 (2025): 55-76.

Dr. Baxter has provided us with the following quotations to consider ahead of the conference:

“Lord, how can man preach thy eternal word?
He is a brittle, crazy glass.”
Herbert, “The Windows” (1-2)

“The character of his sermon is holiness; he is not witty, or learned, or eloquent, but holy […] and every word is heart-deep.”

“When he preaches, he procures attention by all possible art.”

Herbert, The Country Parson
Ch. VII. The Parson

How, we might wonder, does a brittle, crazy glass find the words that are heart-deep? And how, we might wonder, could the preacher employ all possible art, if he is not to be witty, or learned, or eloquent?