Easter Wings is a poem by George Herbert which was published in his posthumous collection, The Temple (1633). It was originally formatted sideways on facing pages and is in the tradition of shaped poems that goes back to ancient Greek sources.
"Easter Wings" in the 1633 edition of The Temple
A copy of the manuscript written for presentation to the Cambridge University press in 1633
George Herbert was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. His poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists." He was born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609. He went there with the intention of becoming a priest, but he became the University's Public Orator and attracted the attention of King James I. He sat in the Parliament of England in 1624 and briefly in 1625.
Portrait by Robert White, 1674 (National Portrait Gallery)
George Herbert
Herbert's The Temple
St Andrew's Church in Bemerton, Wiltshire, where Herbert served as rector and in which he was buried