Of all the ‘school of Donne’ Herbert is the closest to the old Master. Two other fine poets of the group might just as well be said to belong to the ‘school of Herbert’. The debt of Vaughan to Herbert can be shown by quotation; Herbert's most recent and authoritative editor, Dr F. E. Hutchinson, says: ‘There is no example in English literature of one poet adopting another poet's work so extensively.’ As for Crashaw, he undoubtedly admired Herbert. Nevertheless, in spite of a continuity of influence and inspiration, we must remember that these four poets, who form a constellation of religious genius unparalleled in English poetry, are all highly individual, and very different from each other.

The resemblances and differences between Donne and Herbert are peculiarly fascinating. I have suggested earlier that the difference between the poetry of Donne and Herbert shows some parallel to the difference between their careers in the Church. Donne the Dean of St Paul's, whose sermons drew crowds in the City of London; Herbert the shepherd of a little flock of rustics, to whom he laboured to explain the meaning of the rites of the Church, the significance of Holy Days, in language that they could understand. There are, however, lines which might have come from either, where we seem to hear the same voice – Herbert echoing the idiom or reflecting the imagery of Donne. There is at least one poem of Herbert's in which he plays with extended metaphor in the manner of Donne. It is ‘Obedience’ where he uses legal terms almost throughout:

Such elaboration is not typical of Herbert. But there is wit like that of Donne in ‘The Quip’. One feels obliged to quote the whole poem: