Metaphysical poetry is a term applied to a type of English poetry written mostly in the first half of the 17th century, during the reigns of King James I (1603-1625) and Charles I (1625-1649). The most renowned metaphysical poet was John Donne (1572-1631). Other leading poets in this category, in addition to George Herbert, were Richard Crashaw (1612-1649), Abraham Cowley (1618-1667), Andrew Marvell (1621-1678), Thomas Traherne (1637/8-1674), and Henry Vaughan (1621/2-1695).

Donne was a close friend of Herbert’s mother, Magdalen Herbert, who was about 10 years his senior and also of higher rank. Donne’s elegy, “The Autumnal” is a tribute to Magdalen. It begins with the couplet, “Neither spring nor summer beauty hath such grace / As I have seen in one autumnal face.” At her death in 1627, Donne, who was Dean of St. Paul’s, preached the funeral sermon. Donne is equally renowned for his love poetry, which he wrote in the earlier part of his life, as for his religious verse, which he began to write after he took Holy Orders in 1615. In that respect Donne is unlike Herbert, whose entire poetic output was religious in nature.

Because of Donne’s friendship with Herbert’s mother, Herbert knew him and was influenced by the verse of the older man.