Theme of Religion in the Poetry of G Herbert

Theme of Religion in the Poetry of G Herbert

–Menonim Menonimus

Theme of Religion in the Poetry of G Herbert

Theme of Religion in the Poetry of G Herbert

In the long list of English poets, the name of George Herbert (1593-1633) should be pronounced with reverence as a great poet who has written poems on the theme of religion and religion only. As a poet of religion, he was by heart and soul a true Christian. Through almost all his poems, he conveys the very creed of the Christian Religion, as- there is only one supreme God who is full of love and mercy; Christ is the son of God who suffered death in the Crucifixion in order to pay for the sin of mankind; man is originally sinful who can get salvation through the realization of sin and repentance for sin. All his religious poems are rich with the thoughts and feelings of his personal sense of sin and sufferance and continuous conflicts between his worldly desire and spiritual aspiration. Let us illustrate this with reference to his poems below:

In the little lyric entitled ‘The Agonie’ the poet strikes the very creed of the Christian Religion that the realization of sin, repentance for sin and devoted love to God is the way to salvation. As regards the nature of sufferance, the poet invokes the imagery of Christ’s Crucifixion at the Mount of Olive. He says:

”Who would know sinne, let him repair

Unto Mount Olivet; there shall he see

A man so wrung with pain.”

Through the poem ‘Easter Wing’ the poet implies that rejuvenation of spiritual life is possible through sufferance and repentance for sin. He says: 

”Thou didst so punish sinne

That I became 

Most thine.”

‘Affliction’ is a poem in which the poet has expressed his conflicts between his worldly desire and spiritual aspiration. But despite his worldly desire, he loves God the most. He says:

”Ah my deare God, if I am clean forgot 

Let me not love thee, if I love thee not.”

‘The Temper’ is another poem where the poet reveals his dilemma in getting God’s favour. Sometimes he feels spiritual elevation and sometimes he feels spiritual darkness. Sometimes he feels that he is in direct contact with God and sometimes he feels the complete absence of God. He says:

”Sometimes I peer above them all

Sometimes I hardly reach a score, 

Sometimes to hell I fall.”

In the poem entitled ‘Virtue’, the poet teaches us that everything in the world is subject to decay, but a virtuous soul is immortal. He says:

‘Only a sweet and virtuous soul

Like season’d timber, never gives.’

‘The Pearl’ is another poem in which the poet has depicted the conflicts between his worldly desire and spiritual aspiration. He confesses that he becomes the victim of earthly glory; but in spite of this sin, he loves God. He declares:

”I know the ways of pleasure, the sweet strains

 The lullings and the relishes of it,

………………………………..

Yet I love thee.”

In the poem entitled ‘Man’, the poet declares that God has created man with all his grace and glory. Everything created by God is meant for human beings. So the poet admonishes us to love God and remain grateful to God. He says:

”That as the world serves us, we may serve thee

And both thy servants be.”

‘Mortification’ is a lyric through which the poet conveys the truth that human life is mortal and short-lived. Every moment, after birth, we are heading to death. But there is only one way to regain life after death and that is love and devotion to God. The poet prays to God to instruct him on the ways through which he can get life after death. He  writes:

”Yet Lord, instruct us so to die

That all these dyings may be life in death.”

In the poem entitled ‘The Flower’, the poet Herbert says that God is all-powerful. He enables a man’s soul to rise upwards to heaven and in no time brings down the same soul to hell. Everything is determined by God. When God favours us, our grief melts away, as the poet says: 

”Grief melts away 

Like snow in May

As if there were no such cold things.”

Besides being, all the poems, based on the Christian set of beliefs, are rich with Biblical imageries of Christ’s crucifixion and ascension. He makes titles of some of his poems with Biblical terms, as- Jordan, Aron and so on.

From the above illustration of some of Herbert’s poems, as done above, we can come to the conclusion that Herbert is a true Christian poet. Through almost all his poems, he conveys the very creeds of the Christian Religion along with his continuous mental conflicts between worldly desires and spiritual aspirations. 0 0 0

Theme of Religion in the Poetry of G Herbert