Herbert as a religious poet

Question: Herbert as a religious poet.

Or, Herbert as a metaphysical/ devotional poet. 

 

George Herbert is essentially a religious poet. He wrote a large number of religious, philosophical, and reflective poems in the service of god. From his very beginning of poetic career Herbert preferred to write devotional poems rather then to write love poems. In his metaphysical writing he deals with soul, God, immortality, life after death and so on. Metaphysical poetry is a blending of thought and felling, it is erudite and witty; it is full of conceits and dramatic qualities.

Easter is a festival in the Christian church commemorating the resurrection of the Christ which is observed on the first Sunday following the full moon that occurs on or just after March 21. The Sunday on which this festival is held is called Easter-Sunday. This is a religious or spiritual poem that laments the utter moral and spiritual bankruptcy or degeneration human race. The poem celebrates Jesus Christ’s resurrection. It means Christ’s return to life on the third day his crucifixion. The biblical story of man’s creation by the almighty and man’s final fall from blissful Eden (heaven) and man’s abode gifted by the god being seduced by Satan. On that Easter-Sunday Herbert wished to sing the victory of Jesus Christ soaring above the sky harmoniously like a lark. The poet says:

“O let me rise

As larks, harmoniously.

And sing the day thy victories;

Than shall the fuH further the flight in me”

The collar is regarded as one of the most important and also as one of the most interesting poems of Herbert. Its importance lies in the mental and spiritual conflict which Herbert actually experienced in the course of his priestly life. Having become a priest, Herbert found that he had sacrificed all worldly ambition and the pleasure of life, and he therefore felt restless and discontented. He wants to be free like a road and independent of all restraints. He does not want to lead a life of slavery to the church and to God. Herbert often wants to revolt against Christianity but not against God. His attitude is vividly expressed in “The Collar”-

“I struck the hoard, and cry’d. No more

I will abrood

What? Shall I ever sigh and Pine?

As the poet was thus arguing and getting more angry, the voice of God gently rebuked him for this rebelliousness, saying: “My child, do not he rash”. On hearing God’s gentle warning, the poet at once come back to his sense and realized his folly. The poet at once rejoined to this voice, and becoming humble and said: “My Lord, I am still your servant.” Thus the poem began with an angry and with a mood of violence ends in the poet’s complete surrender to his God.

Herbert seems to have deep faith in God and Christ. His religious poems are spontaneously written. They come directly from his heart and have the stamp of sincerity. “Redemption” is a religious poem where the poet’s attitude to God will have God obedient to him to say- Tour suit is granted.

Metaphysics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of existence, truth and knowledge and this philosophy inspired Herbert to meditate upon the Divine Authority and discover the hidden truth lying in our life? Herbert’s poetry is a sequence of religious poems, conceived and cast in the pattern of a morality play. The chief subjects of his poetry are the Incarnation, the Passion and the Redemption.

To conclude we can say that all Herbert’s poetry is the expression of full-faith to his God. Herbert’s theory is that a man should dedicate all his gifts to God’s service. He offered up to God all that was graceful and ingenious in his mind. Thus Herbert’s poetry celebrates divine grace and is dominated by a belief in God’s love.

Herbert’s poetry is metaphysical by virtue of its subject matter. His poem “Easter Wings” is a reflection on the resurrection of Christ. It conveys the philosophy of the realization of man’s sinfulness, the miseries misfortunes, sorrows, sickness and disappointments which are the very basis of his regeneration and resurrection.

In conclusion we can say that Herbert is a great metaphysical poet both in matter and method. In emotion and thought, he is a poet of the inner spirit. In style he is intellectual, in diction he is homely and graceful and in the construction of his poems he is logical. In belief and faith, he is a perfect Christian.