Topic of the Blog:
This blog is part of an assignment for the paper 101 - Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods, Sem - 1, 2023.
'The Collar' by George Herbert
Personal Information:
Name: Yashrajsinh Sodha
Batch: M.A. sem-1 (2023-25)
Enrollment Number: 5108230043
Email: yashrajsinhsodha0000@gmail.com
Roll Number: 34
Assignment Details:
Paper & subject code:- 101 - Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods & 22392
Submitted to:- Smt. Sujata Binoy Gardi, Department of English, MKBU, Bhavnagar
Date of Submission:- 27th November, 2023
George Herbert was born on 3rd April 1593, Montgomery Castle, Wales and died on 1st March 1633, Bemerton, Wiltshire, England. He was an English religious poet, a major metaphysical poet, notable for the purity and effectiveness of his choice of words.
He was a younger brother of Edward Herbert, 1st Baron Herbert of Cherbury, a notable secular metaphysical poet, George in 1610 sent his mother for New Year’s two sonnets on the theme that the love of God is a fitter subject for verse than the love of woman, a foreshadowing of his poetic and vocational bent.
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| George Herbert |
Educated at home, at Westminster School, and at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was in 1620 elected orator of the university, a position that he described as “the finest place in the university.” His two immediate predecessors in the office had risen to high positions in the state, and Herbert was much involved with the court. During Herbert’s academic career, his only published verse was that written for special occasions in Greek and Latin. By 1625 Herbert’s sponsors at court were dead or out of favour, and he turned to the church, being ordained deacon. He resigned as orator in 1627 and in 1630 was ordained priest and became rector at Bemerton. He became friends with Nicholas Ferrar, who had founded a religious community at nearby Little Gidding, and devoted himself to his rural parish and the reconstruction of his church. Throughout his life he wrote poems, and from his deathbed he sent a manuscript volume to Ferrar, asking him to decide whether to publish or destroy them. Ferrar published them with the title The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations in 1633.
Herbert described his poems as “a picture of the many spiritual conflicts that have passed between God and my soul, before I could subject mine to the will of Jesus, my Master, in whose service I have now found perfect freedom.” Herbert shares his conflicts with John Donne, the archetypal metaphysical poet and a family friend. As well as personal poems, The Temple includes doctrinal poems, notably “The Church Porch,” the first in the volume, and the last, “The Church Militant.” Other poems are concerned with church ritual.
(Britannica)
Poem: The Collar
I struck the board, and cried, "No more;
I will abroad!
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit?
Have I no harvest but a thorn
To let me blood, and not restore
What I have lost with cordial fruit?
Sure there was wine
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it,
No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
All wasted?
Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,
And thou hast hands.
Recover all thy sigh-blown age
On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute
Of what is fit and not. Forsake thy cage,
Thy rope of sands,
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
Away! take heed;
I will abroad.
Call in thy death's-head there; tie up thy fears;
He that forbears
To suit and serve his need
Deserves his load."
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied My Lord. (Herbert)
Critical Analysis:
Stanza 1:
I will abroad!
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit?
Have I no harvest but a thorn
To let me blood, and not restore
What I have lost with cordial fruit?"
Analysis:
In this stanza Herbert expresses the sense of tiredness from the beliefs he has. Now he wants to be free from it. "No more" suggests that he does not want to be the same person any more. He wants to escape from the surroundings and wants to be free. "free as road" suggests that he wants to choose his own path now.
Here 'suit' means being in the same pattern for his whole life, living life according to society's expectations and according to the system that exists in the world. He further says he harvested thorns means that constant pain he is going through and suffering from for a long period of time and in the last line he asks if there is any escape or he is just made in that way to suffer for the rest of his life.
Stanza 2:
"Sure there was wine
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it,
No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
All wasted?
Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,
And thou hast hands."
Analysis:
First line suggests that there was a good time in the poet's life before bad times entered in his life. Here the poet describes how his time changed and his own mistakes made his bad fortune. Further the poet asks whether this whole year he has to lose everything, he has lost everything good things in life for that he uses crown, garlands and flowers which say about a better life. So he asks if there is any way to escape it or if he has to live this life like that. Firther he says that there is still hope that something good exists in his fortune, day will arrive and he will get freedom from all the sufferings.
Stanza 3:
"Recover all thy sigh-blown age
On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute
Of what is fit and not. Forsake thy cage,
Thy rope of sands,
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
Away! take heed;
I will abroad."
Analysis:
In this part of the poem the speaker asks a number of different things about himself. First, he wants to recover the pleasures of his past and leave behind his “cold dispute / of what is fit and not.” He is done wasting time worrying about what is holy, proper, or good. These things will no longer interest him. It is his goal to leave behind his cage and “rope of sand.”
This means that whatever binds him with these beliefs, that is he himself, he is responsible for the beliefs he has. They were made by “petty thoughts” and turned into “Good cable” which was able to “enforce and draw” and turn into the “law” which he obeyed.
Stanza: 4
"Call in thy death's-head there; tie up thy fears;
He that forbears
To suit and serve his need
Deserves his load."
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Me thought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied My Lord."
Analysis:
The speech ends with a set of lines that utilise the rhyme scheme of abab. They are used to bring the speaker back to his known reality. He describes how his “raving” came to its climax and rather than building him up, it just brought on the voice of God. The speaker heard “Child!” And replied, “My Lord.” Like a child, he was chastised and brought back into the religious fold.
Conclusion:
In conclusion, we can say that the critical analysis of "The Collar" delves into the intricate exploration of spiritual conflict, rebellion, and eventual reconciliation within George Herbert's poem. The metaphor of the collar serves as a powerful symbol, representing the tension between individual desires and spiritual obligations. The speaker's journey from defiance to acceptance unfolds through vivid imagery and nuanced language. Herbert skillfully weaves themes of frustration, doubt, and divine intervention, offering readers a profound reflection on the complexities of faith and the ultimate surrender to a higher purpose. Through meticulous analysis, we unveil the layers of meaning within "The Collar," revealing Herbert's timeless exploration of the human spirit's struggles and the transformative power of spiritual surrender.
References:
Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. "George Herbert". Encyclopedia Britannica, 30 Mar. 2023, https://www.britannica.com/biography/George-Herbert. Accessed 26 November 2023.
Herbert, George. “The Collar by George Herbert.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, 1663, www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44360/the-collar.
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Photos: 2
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