God In The Poems Of Herbert example essay topic

George Herbert's brilliant ingenuity lies in the simplicity and sincerity of his poems. What makes Herbert a unique poet in the history of English literature is his intimate love for god. God, in the poems of Herbert is the loving father, and Herbert;'s tone of intimacy startles readers. As a poet, h is quite than donne. Douglas bush says (of Herbert) " he does not electrify the the nerves so often, so startlingly as donne, but he is truly religious". Herbert excels in the description of the serenity that comes after the storm, the spiritual crisis.

' METAPHYSICAL POETRY, in the full sense of the term, is a poetry which, like that of the Divina Commedia, the De Natura Rerum, perhaps Goethe's Faust, has been inspired by a philosophical conception of the universe and the r^ole assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence. The term was originally intended to be derogatory. DRYDEN was the first to apply the term when he criticized Donne: Samuel Johnson later used the term "metaphysical poetry" to describe the specific poetic method used by poets like Donne. ; . Dr johnson remarked that in the work of these metaphysical poets "the most heterogeneous ideas are yoked by violence together". ] Metaphysical poets were in rebellion against the highly conventional imagery of the Elizabethan lyric.

In addition to challenging the conventions of rhythm, the metaphysical poets also challenged conventional imagery. Their tool for doing this was the metaphysical conceit... Herbert along with donne, marvell, and Vaughan belonged to this genre of poetry. The quietness of tone and the serene acceptance of god's grace are seen at their best in the poem "love". Love used as a conceit, is the love of god, and in this poem love welcomes the poet, but his soul draws back". guilty of his dust and sinne" but "quick eyed love" observes his hesitation, and draws nearer to him, questioning and reassuring him. When the poet persona expresses his fear that he is not worthy to be there, love assures him that he shall be the worthy guest.

When the poet finds it difficult to look at love because he has been "unkind e, ungrateful" love takes his hand, smiles and says" who made the eye but I?" . Love reassures him that the blame for al lof man's sins has already been born. The poem moves to its quiet but deeply moving ending "you must sit down says love and taste my meat: /so I did sit an eat". "the collar" a much more complex poem is one of herbert's finest. The poem describes a moment of rebelliousness. "I struck the board, and cry'd, No more.

I will abroad". . the poet persona is not prepared to accept any more restrictions o nhis freedom. "my lines and life are free, free as the the roads". What follows is a - an assertion of freedom, a complaint of grievances against the life of devotion out of which the poet intends to break, leading to a boastful challenge to the alleged morbid seriousness and paralyzing timidity of the life the poet is renouncing. The world is rich and beautiful. there is 'wine' and there are 'fruits'; there are 'flowers' and 'garlands'. They are not all "blasted" or wasted".

Then comes the beautiful, quite ending which brings this urge of rebelliousness to a close". But as I rav " dd and grew more fierce and wild, at every word, me thought I heard one calling, child! , and I replied, my lord!" .. The Flower In The Flower, the poet persona t celebrates the joy that accompanies the spiritual renewal which follows the times of trial. Though he has experienced this many times, yet each time it happens the joy is as boundless as ever.

In the second line of the poem he likens this to the regeneration of "the flowers in spring" and thereafter writes of himself as if he were such a flower. The flower, loving the return of spring, but fearful of a late frost, and certain that winter will eventually come again, longs for the perpetual spring of. ".. Paradise where no flower can wither".

By its selfishness and sinfulness it is watered and tries to seize heaven by its own growth; such arrogance must then be punished by God's anger, more severe than any frost. Yet God's severity is remedial not malicious; when the lesson is learned, the flower may be allowed to put out new growth. This is its nature, its proper function in the eyes of God, and its delight. Man's joy is to be found in doing the proper, appointed duty, however high or humble, which he has received from God. This delight is asserted in the last stanza of the poem: " And now in age I bud again, After so many deaths I live and write; I once more smell the dew and rain, And relish versing: 0 my only light, It cannot be That I am he On whom thy tempests fell all night" The Flower concludes simply: God's purpose is to show us "we are but flowers that glide", to let us acknowledge our limitation and inconsequence; yet, paradoxically, if we can see this, the reward is great: God "has a garden for us, where to hide". It is those who want more than this, swollen by their arrogance or eminence, who will "Forfeit their paradise by their pride".

Jordan opens in a colloquial manner. The very title suggests crossing boundaries of secular love into the world of poetry where poetry wil l speak of love for god. The title may signify both the crossing from the vanity and paganism of the rest of the world into the truth and holiness of the land of promise". Herbert, in the poem challenges the style of such poets who address their subject in an indirect manner: "Is all good structure in a winding stair?" The metaphor suggests circumlocution: the subtlety and finesse of these poets is seen as a dislike or disdain of plain speaking. In his second stanza Herbert cites some of the clich " es of the pastoral lyric (showing both the trite idea and the trite expression of it): "enchanted groves", "sudden arbours", and "purling streams".

Moreover, where the work is not, say, that of Spenser, Raleigh or Sidney, but of their less gifted imitators, the specialised diction and stock landscapes are used as camouflage for the crudity of the "course-spun ne lines". In the final stanza, Herbert makes it clear that he has no quarrel with the pastoral writers: "Shepherds are honest people; let them sing:" This is ambiguous: "shepherds are truthful" or "shepherds are people in the real world". The right of fictitious shepherds to behave as in the pastoral is thus, ironically, earned by the virtue of the real shepherd. Herbert does not mind who should choose to "riddle" (or "pull for Prime" (as long, , as they will allow him to write plainly and not accuse him of being unpoetic. The reference to "loss of rime" seems to be a pun: on "rime" in its archaic sense of "poetry" Though Herbert's concern in this poem is to vindicate his own writing: poetry which is not cryptic and which addresses the real God rather than the idols of a dead civilisation - yet he anticipates later critical debate. There is some irony that the poem, which argues for plainness, is, in itself, far from plain.

The rhetorical questions leave too little room for positive assertion. general notions have to be inferred from particular examples, and some of the metaphors (to say nothing of the title) are not at all easy to understand with any certainty (such as the "winding stair", the "shepherds" with their singing, or pulling "for Prime"). Herbert, , takes delight in ridiculing by imitation the obscurity he denounces. His playfulness here is regretted in a later poem. Jordan (II) in which the argument for simplicity is stated in plain and sober terms. In denial, the speaker as a poet wants to sing a song of praise for god. Yet god denies him devotion, that is not reciprocated. "when my devotions could not pierce, thy silent eares, then was my heart broken as was my verse.

". . This unable's him to write a verse that praises the joy and glory of god. His mind is like a brittle bow where his thoughts like the arrow move haphazardly. the poet persona's mind is at war. A confused mind that can find no peace. Herbert's imagery is more homely and accessible than Donne's outlandish conceits: if nothing is too exotic for inclusion in Donne's verse, nothing is too ordinary for inclusion in Herbert's. .