Jones Very

VERY, Jones. b. Salem, Massachusetts, 28 Aug 1813; d. Salem, 8 May 1880. He was educated at Harvard College, graduating in 1836. He was appointed as a tutor in Greek, but in 1838 he was removed from his post after strange behaviour following a mystical experience that caused him to be confined briefly to a mental hospital. For some eighteen months (1838-39) Very poured forth a series of poems and hymns, supposedly inspired by the Holy Spirit. These offended some conservative Unitarians but impressed others, including Ralph Waldo Emerson* who arranged for their publication as Essays and Poems (1839). Some of Very’s hymns were subsequently printed in Unitarian books, including The Book of...