Grrr! My air conditioning has been out for 3
days, and, needless to say, that means I’ve been battling the incessant heat.
On that note, I think it’s time to bring forth
one of George Herbert’s earliest poems, a sonnet that at age 16 he apparently
sent to his mother, basically announcing his intention to become a devotional
poet. Luminarium.org supplies the text:
[Sonnet (I)]
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My
God, where is that ancient heat towards thee,
Wherewith whole showls of Martyrs once did burn, Besides their other flames? Doth Poetry Wear Venus livery? only serve her turn? Why are not Sonnets made of thee? and layes Upon thine Altar burnt? Cannot thy love Heighten a spirit to sound out thy praise As well as any she? Cannot thy Dove Out-strip their Cupid easily in flight? Or, since thy wayes are deep, and still the same, Will not a verse run smooth that bears thy name! Why doth that fire, which by thy power and might Each breast does feel, no braver fuel choose Than that, which one day, Worms, may chance refuse? |
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The young Herbert here plays with the images
of martyrs burned at the stake, worshippers offering sacrifices to the gods,
and love poems written by a man burning with passion for the woman of his
dreams.
In lines 1-3 the poet wonders where the zeal
for God has gone. After all, once upon a time whole schools of martyrs
(“showls” = schools) were willing to be burned at the stake rather than
renounce their faith or doctrine.
He shifts quickly in line 3 to poetry and its
purpose. By “Wear Venus’ livery” Herbert means verse solely being used for secular
love poems. Line 5 brings the sonnet to its point: Many poems are written about
love, so why aren’t poems written about God?
The following lines compare and contrast the
subject of secular love poems (“any she”) with the ultimate love interest: God
Himself. “Thy Dove” is the Holy Spirit, while “their Cupid” represents the
inspiration for secular love poems.
In lines 10-11, the poet argues that a poem
written about God can certainly make for good poetry. There’s plenty of depth
to plumb (“Thy ways are deep”), and His constancy (“still the same”) should
make for a smoother verse.
Finally, in the last 3 lines, Herbert brings
his sonnet back to the “burning up” theme with which he began: God is the one
who has made us capable of passion, so why not direct that passion toward poems
about Him, since flesh and blood will decay, but He lasts forever?
Thankfully, the talented George Herbert fulfilled
this ambition, leaving for us the clever and pious poems of The Temple.
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