George Herbert Poems

Easter Wings

In this shape poem, Herbert relates that Jesus’ death and rebirth are better than not having them because it gives us Easter. Even though Jesus having to die for our sins is terrible, Herbert argues that Easter allows him to recognize the true grace of God in a way that he wouldn’t have before. He’s “thin with sin” but with Jesus’ help he can ascend to heaven like the two birds the poem takes shape of in the original printing.

The Altar

The first poem in the publication of The Temple and in the first section of that book titled “The Church”. In it, Herbert makes his claim that the human body is itself the altar that offers up sacrifices to God. The Norton book claims that the poems themselves that follow are offered up on that altar.

The Collar

Related, perhaps, to choler or anger, the collar is the weight of devotion to God upon Herbert’s neck. Written to sound somewhat like a courting poem, Herbert craves the recognition of himself as a suitor. The poem sounds as if it’s one of Herbert’s later poems, because he seems to be an old man who has grown tired of God’s silence. The poem questions God, and devotion, craving to find another path in life, but just as Herbert goes to turn away from God the poem ends with the voice of God calling his child back home.

Jordan [1]

This poem asks whether or not a poem can contain things that aren’t written about “false” looks and confusion, or in natural pagan poetry. Instead he advocates for shepherds and truth, and being able to write a poem about his love for God.

Jordan [2]

This poem is an attempt to write a poem about God, but instead Herbert gets in the way. He maintains the modesty topos at the beginning, using it as a type of confessional, but his poetry isn’t enough to help him ascend. Instead, he has to combine himself with the divine to reach heavenly plains, but all the while he keeps trying to write his poem until a friend tells him that its enough, that even if he hasn’t achieved his mark, the desire to do so in a poem is beautiful enough.

Church Monuments

This poem is written in a church, where Herbert seems to be praying. While he prays and his soul “repairs to her devotion” his body is entombed next to all of the bodies under the church, next to the dust that all are driven to. His body is there to learn from the “school” or genealogy of names that came before him and offer their dust as fellowship to his body. He hopes that this education next to these bodies will help him in the future when his body ahs grown fat and wanton, and that it will protect him from falling. There’s a beautiful allusion to bodies as glass for the dust of life, acting like hourglasses until they tumble into dust as well.

The Bag

A poem about the crucifixion of Christ as a way to fight off his own despair. The first stanza starts as an address to despair, telling it to go away because the Lord can hear and even though the natural world (not heavenly) assails him, he will stand strong. He asks despair if he heard of Jesus Christ, who disrobed his Godly clothes to become a man, and gave his life for man’s sins. As he was dying, however, a spear is driven into Jesus’ side, the unnecessary wound, and Jesus uses this pain as a way to take man’s messages to God in his “bag” of flesh and they’ll be right next to his heart. Sadness, injury, and pain, are thus seen as ways to be closer to God. The poem ends as it begins, “Away, Despair…Despair, away.”

Love [3]

In this poem, Herbert sits with God and is represented both as Lord, but also Love. The speaker is insecure about their sins, and has a hard time accepting their salvation. The poem is an attempt to accept oneself as God accepts you.