Quiet day at the Royal Foundation of St Katharine

A Quiet Day led by Mark Oakley
‘I will lament, and love’: a day exploring George Herbert

George Herbert’s poems have been described as ‘heart-work and heaven-work’. Many of us know one or two of his poems because they are sung as hymns. The full range of Herbert’s poems, however, reveal both devotion and dereliction, reverence and rebellion, peace and restlessness. The love he experiences from God required him to be honest about his life and faith, including his agitated mind, which he referred to as a ‘case of knives’. In this quiet day, we will spend time with Herbert’s poems to discover how the resonance of his poetry introduces us to him but also to ourselves, the world and to God.