The following version of the poem was used to create this guide: Herbert, George. "The Collar." Poetry Foundation. https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44360/the-collar.

Note that all parenthetical citations refer to the line number from which the quotation is taken.

George Herbert was a Welsh metaphysical poet. He was born in Montgomery, Wales in 1593 and died in 1633. He was one of ten children in a wealthy family, and received a good education from his mother and godfather, poet John Donne, after his father died when he was only three. He studied at Cambridge University and considered a career in politics before ultimately pursuing ordination in the Church of England. He entered the priesthood in 1629. Throughout his life, Herbert wrote poems, prose, and music, mostly with a focus on higher religious questions.

"The Collar" is one of these, published in his collection The Temple. It begins with an exploration of the speaker's suffering and his rejection of his Christian faith, which he sees as likely to only lead to more hardship. However, at the end of the poem the speaker hears God's voice calling him, and is able to respond.