Lord, Who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:
With Thee
O let me rise,
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day Thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne;
And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With Thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day Thy victorie;
For, if I imp my wing on Thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
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George Herbert
From guest Elva Hutchison (contact)
I like to see that President George H. W. Bush's name came from someone in his family having been named after this poet. -
From guest Sarah Khayal (contact)
George Herbert as a major religious poet who spent the rest of his life in working as a priest in the church, he reflects his religious doctrines via his poetry as we've seen last time when we read his celebrated poem "The Collar". When I read the first line of Herbert's The Pulley, I believed that we are again in front of another religious poem for him which may be deal with god's creation of man and man's relation with god , but at the same i wondered how could the title of the poem, which is "The Pulley" be related to the poem. When I read this title, i was in need to look for its meaning in the dictionary becuase it's very clear, as the pulley simply means "the wheel", which is a tool for holding or raising up heavy things. I feel that the title is a kind of conceit , but i really don't know what it indicates. While reading the peom, i noticed that Herbert is using words, such as "When, so , For, Yet, If , May...etc" it could be an indication for his arguments . Another thing which aslo attracted me is the use of the word "Rest" as he uses it three times, one time in the second stanza, another time in the third stanza and also in the last stanza, but my question is "does the word REST in every stanza hold the same meaning, or its meaning defers from one stanza to another.... Something I want to add, it could be far away from the poem but i don't know why it came into my mind when I read the word "restlessness" in thelast stanza, i see that the idea of restlessness is associated with the lack of sleep, which is an idea that was involved in the minds of many Renaissance witers. Many of Shakespear's play include refernces to sleep or the lack of it as a punishment for sins committed. Like what happened in Macbeth and Othelo who were tormented by the lack of sleep. In conclusion, Unlike Donne, Herbert depends less heavily on conceits and extrem metaphors and his ideas seem also distinguished. Although the poet is using some kind of simple language and easy words, the subject matter of the poem is not very clear to me, it may because there is a religioud background for it..... Thank you, Sarah Khayal -
I think this poem doesn't connect with a lot of people today because it was written in 1633. People reading it back then would have understood every word with passion. This is a very religious poem. Notice that the longer lines are more positive than the shorter lines, this is important.
The first stanza basically says Lord created man and then punished him for sin (Adam n Eve).
The second stanza he says with the lords help I will learn from the "fall" of man and flourish.
Third stanza says when he was young he sinned and became "thin".
But again in the last stanza, with the lord's help I will become more. (imp= people would put extra feathers on birds to give them better lift/ ability to fly) -
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I believe Gordon intended the gradual thinning out of the lines to indicate man's loss as he moves away from God. As he returns to God the lines get longer. This is repeated in stanzas 3 and 4.
Man's fortune and spirits wax and wane as moves towards or away from God.
A variation of Easter Wings might also be how Christ rose at easter (on angel wings) and how Gordon believes that with faith man could do the same..
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This is a tetactrys, a beautiful form I love the form it can work with any subject and this is no exception.... Although it did go on a little, I think a triple instead of quadruple would have been better..
Sanity.
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that was really beautiful. that's the only word to describe it. Beautiful.
God Bless,
/Meg -
good
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I like the way the poem reads, the different lengths of lines. But, it didn't grab me at all. It was a nice read, but that is all.
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I like the form. I like the style, I really have no opinion on the piece itself. I mean, it's well written, it just bored me basically. Some poems do whether new or old.
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