The Complete Poetry

Nov 11, 2025 5:37 PM

Author:George Herbert,John Drury,Victoria Moul

The Complete Poetry

A wonderful edition of Herbert's poetry, edited by his acclaimed biographer John Drury and including elegant new translations of his Latin verse by Victoria Moul.

George Herbert wrote, but never published, some of the very greatest English poetry, recording in an astonishing variety of forms his inner experiences of grief, recovery, hope, despair, anger, fulfilment and - above all else - love. This volume, edited by John Drury, collects Herbert's complete poetry - including such classics of English devotional poetry as 'The Altar', Easter-Wings' and 'Love'. It also includes the verse Herbert wrote in Latin, newly translated into English by Victoria Moul.

George Herbert was born in 1593 and died at the age of 39 in 1633, before the clouds of civil war gathered. He showed worldly ambition and seemed sure of high public office and a career at court, but then for a time 'lost himself in a humble way', devoting himself to the restoration of a church and then to his parish of Bemerton, three miles from Salisbury. When in the year of his death his friend Nicholas Ferrar published Herbert's poems under the title The Temple, his fame was quickly established.

John Drury is Chaplain and Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. His books include The Burning Bush (1990), Painting the Word (1999), and, most recently, Music at Midnight, the culmination of a lifetime's interest in Herbert.

Victoria Moul is Lecturer in Latin Literature and Language at Kings College London. She is author of Jonson, Horace and the Classical Tradition (2010) and editor of Neo-Latin Literature (2014).

Reviews

This is a Utopian novel by a feminist set in the Amazon rainforest - and it is funny... Prepare for a feminist lecture, but one that does not lose sight of the need to entertain

—— Guardian

Prolific, ambitious, and deeply earnest in her desire to make the world more just for women, Gilman's long career as a speaker and writer inspired countless women to work for change. Her status as one of the most important feminist thinkers of the Progressive Era is undeniable

—— Feminist Collections

It was so radical that more than 50 years passed before society began to catch up with its feminism.

—— Radio Times

Her best yet... powerful and beautifully written - and highly recommended!

—— Fabulous, Sun on Sunday

Complex and thrilling

—— Sun

Another brilliant read

—— Bella

This heart-rending novel will have you gripped from the start

—— Pride

Beautifully written and utterly intriguing, this kept me reading late into the night

—— Katie Fforde

Gripping and authentic, sweeping and emotional, Dorothy Koomson's writing takes the reader on a compelling journey into the world she has created

—— Rosanna Ley

A satisfying and moving story about love, relationships and the consequences of discovering the truth about the past

—— Cathy Woodman

A woman's journey to self-discovery is handled with warmth and intelligence in this thought-provoking page-turner

—— Louise Candlish

Dorothy Koomson mixes the story of a woman searching for her birth mother with a gripping mystery in That Girl from Nowhere

—— Good Housekeeping

I'm a big fan of Koomson's suspenseful novels and this lived up to expectations

—— Woman and Home

A thought-provoking and gripping emotional thriller

—— Candis

Dorothy Koomson fans will not be disappointed with this

—— Daily Mail

A gripping read that fans of Dorothy Koomson will love

—— Closer

Albert has made a novel that approaches depression and maternal anxiety with candid honesty, transforming writing on motherhood forever

—— Aaron Calvin , AskMen UK

A hilarious, honest, and eye-opening book, this is a must have for any new mum or mum-to-be

—— Mummy Pages

Funny and heartfelt

—— i (The paper for today)

Ms. Moran['s] ... funny and cheerfully dirty coming-of-age novel has a hard kernel of class awareness ... sloppy, big-hearted and alive in all the right ways.

—— Dwight Garner , New York Times

there’s so much real feeling too. Johanna’s vulnerability and bravado, as she moves out of her world and falls in love is beautifully done’ or ‘ and running through it all, with a visceral power that most writers should envy, is the shame and grinding anxiety of being poor

—— Sunday Times

Moran also writes brilliantly about music, and especially about what music can do. She carries Johanna through this novel with incredible verve, extravagant candour, and a lot of heart. Johanna is … a wonderful heroine. A heroine who cares, who bravely sallies forth and makes things happen, who gives of herself, who is refreshingly unashamed. She’s so confident, it’s glorious

—— The Independent on Sunday

an entertaining read, with Moran in fine voice – hilarious, wild, imaginative and highly valuable…Moran is in danger of becoming to female masturbation what Keats was to Nightingales…

—— Barbara Ellen , The Observer

rude, big-hearted, wise-cracking novel…so filthy she’ll make you blush

—— Christina Patterson , The Sunday Times

This is going to be a bestseller…A sharp, hilarious and controversial read

—— The Bookseller

Ali Smith is a master of language. Vigorous, vivid writing that is Ali Smith incarnate

—— Alice Thompson , Herald

Ingeniously conceived, gloriously inventive

—— NPR

Dizzyingly ambitious . . . endlessly artful, creating work that feels infinite in its scope and intimate at the same time. [A] swirling panoramic

—— Atlantic

Brilliant . . . the sort of death-defying storytelling acrobatics that don't seem entirely possible

—— Washington Post

Having read this now twice, in both directions so to speak, I've decided - and I do not write this flippantly - that Ali Smith is a genius

—— Susan McCallum , LA Review of Books

Approaches the world as only a novel can. The book moves not so much in a straight line as in a twisting helix pattern . . . delivers the heat of life and the return of beauty in the face of loss

—— Kenneth Miller , Everyday Ebook

A unique conversation between past and present

—— Milwaukee Journal

Wildly inventive . . . lyrical, fresh

—— Bustle Magazine

Previous Article：The Hawley Book of the Dead Next Article：Circe and the Cyclops

Comments

Welcome to zzdbook comments! Please keep conversations courteous and on-topic. To fosterproductive and respectful conversations, you may see comments from our Community Managers.