George Herbert as a Religious poet

George Herbert is considered as a religious poet because of the subject matter of his poetry which is
fully devotional and religious in nature. By his poetry, he completely surrenders himself to God and his
master, Jesus. Although he was associated with the metaphysical group, he was exceptional for his
treatment towards religion in his poetry. For his devotion to God, he is known as the saint of the
metaphysical group. And his religious thought afterward influenced other metaphysical poets. However,
his devotion to God reflects in his poems, and we find a great touch of religion in almost all of his
poems. He wrote a large number of religious, philosophical, and reflective poems in the service of god.

He was a Churchman of the Anglican Church. And his religious faith had grown and developed in this
Church. He was influenced by it right from his childhood under the benign guidance of his pious mother
and seasoned family chaplains. And long after the complication of his University graduation, he was
ordained and placed over the little church of Bemarton. As he was brought up in religious atmosphere
and his religious faith is shaped by his pious mother, we see that his poems are the representations of
his sacred mind and thought. His poems are nothing but the true expression of love towards God and
Jesus. As Rose Macaulay says, "Herbert is, in a sense, the first of the Anglican poets; the first Anglican
poet, that is, whose whole expression and art was coloured by and confined within the walls of his
Church."

Herbert finds and gets satisfaction writing religious poems. Even the two sonnets that he sent to his
mother when he was only seventeen year's old are the symbol of what kind of poet he wanted to be. In
his after years, he writes divine poems and sees beauty only in God. However, Herbert is called the
devotional or the religious poet because he deals with such subjects. The theme of most of his poems is
religion. He deals with the soul, God, life after death, the relation between human spirits and senses and
so on. He talks of man's relation to God, of body to the soul, of the life here and to the life hereafter. In
this relation, he often shows rebellion, reconciliation and the final submission.

There are many poems in which Herbert devoutly offers his homage to God or Christ, and make
surrender of himself to the Almighty. "Easter-Wings" is one of such poems. 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 . 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 underlining idea is that the fall of man is the essential basis of his rise, or in other words if there is
no fall, there can be no flight. Here he says,

"Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,

Though foolishly he lost the same,

Decaying more and more,

Till he became

Most poore."

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.

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.

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. So undoubtedly we can consider George Herbert is a devotional or religious poet.