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DIVINE CALL AND
HUMAN RESPONSE
Christ: 'my onely musick'.
The spirituality of George Herbert
WALTON tells this story of H e r b e r t at Bemerton d u r i n g the last
I ZAAK
years of his life: on his way into Salisbury for the choral service at the
cathedral and private m u s i c - m a k i n g with friends:
H e saw a poor m a n , with a poorer horse, that was fall'n u n d e r his
load; they were both in distress, and needed present help; which M r
Herbert perceiving, put off his canonical coat, a n d help'd the poor
m a n to unload, and after, to load his horse: the poor m a n blest him
for it: and he blest the poor m a n ; a n d was so like the good Samaritan,
that he gave him m o n e y to refresh both himself and his horse; and
told him, 'that if he loved himself, he should be merciful to his
beast'.
H e r b e r t ' s late arrival, 'so soyl'd and discompos'd', caused comment.
But he replied:
T h a t the thought of what he had done would prove Musick to him at
Midnight; and that the omission of it, would have upbraided and
made discord in his Conscience . . . for if I be b o u n d to pray for all
that be in distress, I am sure that I am b o u n d , so far as it is in m y
power to practise what I pray for. A n d though I do not wish for the
like occasion every day, yet let me tell you, I would not willingly
pass one day of m y life without comforting a sad soul, or showing
mercy; and I praise God for this occasion. A n d now let's tune our
instruments. 1
Here we see the received picture of Herbert in the making: the model
parish priest, simple and practical in piety, set up as an example to the
Restoration clergy; the 'lovable and naive L a u d i a n ' and quaint m i n o r poet
in the suspect genre of religious poetry. It is a picture which has made him
appear to be of limited interest and relevance to later generations. H e r b e r t
has been ill served by m a n y of his anglican admirers. T h u s in W a l t o n ' s
story the parallel to the parable of the Good Samaritan is too obvious and,
knc~,zing the a~a~hor's capacity for creating incident, our suspicions are
aroused. Yet we need not doubt its plausibility. T h e country parson ' i n
j o u r n e y ' , H e r b e r t wrote, 'leaveth not his ministry behind him; but is
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
313
himself wherever he is' (250-51). 2 A n d that self he viewed in m u s i c i a n ' s
terms as an i n s t r u m e n t to be t u n e d to praise in every part of life in h a r m o n y
with Christ, ' m y onely m u s i c k ' .
It was indeed an active spirituality, a priestly ministry both practical a n d
exemplary, as we can see in the ideal set down in the Country Parson. But the
poetry of The Temple reveals something m o r e - - a personal discipline of
rigour a n d depth within which he faced, without evasion, his failures a n d
frustrations, his anger with G o d and himself, his despair no less than the
j o y a n d peace of the life of faith. T h o s e who dismiss H e r b e r t as 'the
representative lyrist of a mild a n d tepid church' miss the authenticity and
intensity of the experience to which he gave poetic form. A glimpse of this is
given in W a l t o n ' s account of his induction to the cure of souls in Bemerton
church:
being left there alone to Toll the Bell (as the L a w requires him), he
staid so much longer than an o r d i n a r y time, before he r e t u r n e d . . .
that his friend, M r Woodnot, l o o k ' d in at the C h u r c h window, a n d
s a w him lie prostrate on the g r o u n d before the Altar. 3
T h e poetry, written over m a n y years, a n d finally put in o r d e r d u r i n g his
short ministry at Bemerton before his death, is the key to the disciplined life
of p r a y e r which informed the active, public ministry.
Poetry was, for H e r b e r t , essentially prayer, a practice of the presence of
God: ' t h a t which while I use/I a m with thee' (Quiddite: 70). Poetic structure
w a s , therefore, an expression of faith in a divine order within which the
disorder of h u m a n experience could be contained. A n d if that experience
seemed at times too overwhelming for words - - 'Verses, ye are too fine a
thing, too wise/For m y rough sorrows' (Grief: 164) - - it could, nevertheless,
be the m a t e r i a l of poetry. T h e o r d e r e d h a r m o n y of creation, shattered by
the Fall, is now restored by Christ, ' m y onely m u s i c k ' , and the poetry
becomes the e m b o d i m e n t of that restoration in worship:
M a n is out of order h u r l ' d
P a r c e l ' d out to all the world.
Lord, thy b r o k e n consort raise
A n d the musick shall be praise
(Doomsday: 187).
T h e symbolic poetic o r d e r and the e x e m p l a r y o r d e r i n g of the priestly life
express this restoration of divine order. Both are gifts of grace alone and
The Temple has this dedication:
Lord, m y first fruits present themselves to thee;
Yet not m i n e neither: for from thee they came,
A n d must return.
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DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
T h u s the whole work has an order whose m e a n i n g m a y be read at several
levels. T h e ' T e m p l e ' , at first glance the church building itself, the english
Church or the whole c o m m u n i t y of grace, is finally the temple ' n o t m a d e
with h a n d s ' . 'Blest be the Architect, whose art could build so strong in a
weak heart' (The Church-floore: 67). It is built by Christ u p o n the rock of
faith which that order reflects.
J o s e p h S u m m e r s has suggested that H e r b e r t :
might be considered a ' m y s t i c ' of the via positiva, in something of the
sense that most devout Christians a r e at times ' m y s t i c s ' ; valuing
union with God, but expecting it fully only with death; expressing
j o y for the m o m e n t s of the presence of G o d a n d lamentations for the
days of his absence; believing that the p r o p e r service of G o d consists
in works as well as acts of devotion; conscious of sin hut striving to
conform to the will of G o d ; seeing in the world and h u m a n life
images which show G o d ' s creation and his love. 4
H e r b e r t ' s achievement was to take this c o m m o n christian experience and
by his discipline and skill reveal it to the reader as being both more
profound and much richer in m e a n i n g than he could have imagined. In this
is to be found the secret of his appeal to Christians of other times and
diverse traditions.
Poetry and spirituality are united in The Temple. Thus, H e r b e r t could
only envisage publication after his death if the expression o f his ' m a n y
spiritual conflicts' might ' t u r n to the advantage of any dejected poor soul' .5
Those m o d e r n readers who see in the poetry only the artificial conceits of
' m e t a p h y s i c a l ' wit have, therefore, missed the point. His language appears
difficult and his i m a g e r y occasionally bizarre to the m o d e r n r e a d e r only
because a radical change of sensibility divides our time from his.
U n d e r l y i n g all of his writing is a n unselfconscious apprehension of life
and experience in metaphorical and symbolic terms which links this
Protestant with medieval Catholicism.
H e reads the spirit in the l e t t e r . N o t into but in; he writes in symbols
because he thus sees the world, both outside and inside himself; he
sees it as a web of significance . . . . H e writes not of events and facts
but of meanings and values, and he uncovers rather than creates
these meanings. H e ' r e a d s ' them in the universe of which he is a
humble but undetachable part. 6
T h e typological elaboration of biblical image and narrative which
characteristic of the S a r u m L i t u r g y , the Breviary, the P r i m e r s a n d
popular religious verse and iconography of english religion before
Reformation, is at the root of his apprehension a n d expression of
was
the
the
the
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
315
christian faith. T h e long poem, ' T h e Sacrifice', is a striking example of
this. T h e Christ who speaks here is the Christ of the liturgy of H o l y Week:
Oh, all ye, who passe by, whose eyes and m i n d e
T o worldly things are sharp, but to me blinde;
T o me, who took eyes that I might you finde;
W a s ever grief like mine?
T h e Princes of m y people make a head
Against their M a k e r : they do wish m e dead,
W h o cannot wish, except I give them bread:
W a s ever grief like mine? (26).
J. A. W . Bennett is only a m o n g the most recent to point out that in this
poem are to be found, 'all the figural features that from the time of
Prudentius till the printings of the so-called Biblia Pauperum in the fifteenth
century had come to cluster r o u n d the theme of the Passion' .7 T h e sequence
for matins on M a u n d a y T h u r s d a y , O vos omnis qui transitis, and the G o o d
F r i d a y Adoratio Crucis are the most obvious sources.
Nevertheless, the poem in both structure and content is H e r b e r t ' s own.
R o s e m o n d T u v e has d r a w n attention to the hardness and bitter irony of the
Christ as he faces the pride a n d ingratitude of the Jews:
T h e y buffet him, and box him as they list,
W h o grasps the earth a n d heaven with his fist,
A n d never yet, w h o m he would punish miss'd:
W a s ever grief like mine? (30). 8
T h r o u g h o u t , the sureness of justice to come sounds 'as clear and awful as
the Dies Irae' for those who 'in me denie themselves all pitie'. A n d H e r b e r t
does not shrink from the terrible paradoxes which are so starkly posed by
his Calvinism: 'they do wish me d e a d , / W h o cannot wish, except I give
them b r e a d ' .
T h e sacrifice of C a l v a r y , penally conceived, is at the heart of the spirituality of the country parson who 'knows nothing but the Crosse of Christe,
his m i n d e being defixed on it with those nailes wherewith his M a s t e r was'
(267). Late-medieval franciscan devotion a n d Calvinism combine in the
faith of this anglican poet. ' T h e Sacrifice' reveals one m o r e strand of
influence: ' I t is a new style . . . a meditation u p o n the liturgy developing
the events of Passion W e e k according to the intricate methods of the seventeenth century: visualization, intellectual analysis, profit d r a w n from the
dual a n d simultaneous vision of G o d m a d e m a n ' . Louis M a r t z discerns,
both here and elsewhere, the influence of counter-reformation spirituality;
most characteristically the devout h u m a n i s m of the salesian tradition.
Certainly, the Introduction to the devout life was valued b y the c o m m u n i t y at
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DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
Little G i d d i n g founded by H e r b e r t ' s friend, Nicholas Ferrar. A n d H e r b e r t
would not have been alone a m o n g Anglicans in using c o n t e m p o r a r y
catholic writings. T h e i r influence, as much as distinctively protestant forms
of self e x a m i n a t i o n , helped to shape that spiritual discipline to which the
poetry bears witness as it presents 'with quivering intensity, the very act of
analysis'.9 S o m e t h i n g of its character, too, is revealed in Barnabas O l e y ' s
memoir when he writes of H e r b e r t ' s 'eminent temperance and f r u g a l i t y . . .
his private fastings, his mortification of the body, his e x t e m p o r a r y exercises
thereof, at the sight or visit of a charnel house . . . . Besides his careful (not
scrupulous) observation of a p p o i n t e d Fasts, Lents and E m b e r s ' . 1° These
were the hidden counterparts of the e x e m p l a r y and didactic b e h a v i o u r of
the parson a n d were at one with its purposes. T h u s ' T h e P a r s o n ' s L i b r a r y '
is his holy life to be used for his parishioners' care and edification: 'So that
the parson having studied, and mastered all his lusts a n d affections within,
and the whole A r m y of T e m p t a t i o n s without, hath ever so m a n y sermons
ready p e n n ' d , as he hath victories' (279).
H e r b e r t ' s ministry at B e m e r t o n was short - - less than three years - - and
the final illness which brought him to his death a m o n t h before his fortieth
b i r t h d a y in M a r c h 1633, was only the last of a series. A n d he had hesitated
long before taking holy orders. It is pertinent to ask what led this m a n of
good family and prospects to a rural parish with, what J o h n A u b r e y called,
its 'pitifull little chapell'. T h e y o u n g Fellow of T r i n i t y and C a m b r i d g e
University O r a t o r , the M e m b e r of Parliament, might have had greater
expectations. Illness, frustration of secular ambitions, disillusionment with
public life, the influence of his mother, all have been suggested as reasons.
W h a t e v e r the cause, it was no hasty decision. A n d even after he had been
m a d e deacon at the age of thirty-one in N o v e m b e r 1624, he delayed for
nearly six years more as he struggled against ill health - - until after his
marriage a n d presentation to the C r o w n living of Fugglestone with
Bemerton - - before being ordained priest in S e p t e m b e r 1630. Nevertheless, the final c o m m i t m e n t to the priestly vocation was complete and the
Country Parson reveals its character: ' A Pastor is the D e p u t y of Christ for the
reducing of M a n to the Obedience of G o d ' , who, like St Paul, 'ills up that
which is b e h i n d e of the afflictions of Christ in his flesh, for his Bodie's sake,
which is the C h u r c h ' . H e r e i n is:
the complete definition of a M i n i s t e r . . . both the Dignity thereof,
and the Duty: the Dignity, in that a priest m a y do that which Christ
did, and b y his auctority, and as his Vicegerent. T h e Duty, in that a
Priest is to do that which Christ did, a n d after his m a n n e r , both for
Doctrine and Life (225).
This high valuation of his calling informs the whole work. H e is, therefore, ' t r u l y touched and a m a z e d ' , at divine service, 'with the M a j e s t y of
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
317
God, before whom he presents himself; yet not as himself alone, but as
presenting with himself the whole Congregation, whose sins he then bears,
and brings with his own to the heavenly altar to be bathed, a n d washed in
the sacred L a v e r of C h r i s t ' s b l o o d ' (231). H e is aware ' t h a t none goes out
of C h u r c h as he came in, but either better or worse' (233). T h e responsibility is awesome and extends to every part of his life. T h e parson then is ' i n
G o d ' s stead to his Parish, a n d dischargeth G o d what he can of his promises'
(254). N o t h i n g escapes his eye because the visible Church, the national
C h u r c h by law established is both the whole civil c o m m u n i t y a n d the
c o m m u n i t y of grace, the Body of Christ, the temple, itself. T h e right
ordering of his life is for the p r o m o t i o n of the right o r d e r i n g of all h u m a n
life u n d e r God.
T h e same concern informs the 'special care of his C h u r c h , that all things
there be decent and befitting his n a m e by which it is called'. Structure,
decoration and furnishings receive his attention,
not as out of necessity, or as p u t t i n g a holiness in the things, but as
desiring to keep the middle way between superstition, and slovenliness, and as following the Apostles two great a d m i r a b l e Rules in
things of this nature: the first whereof is, Let all things be done decently,
and in order: the second, Let all things be done to edification, 1 C o r 14.
For these two rules comprise and include the double object of our
duty, G o d , . a n d our neighbour; the first being for the h o n o u r of
God; the second for the benefit of our n e i g h b o u r (246).
T h e order is that, too, of the C a n o n s a n d the Book of C o m m o n Prayer:
'the prayers of m y M o t h e r , the C h u r c h of England; no other Prayers are
equal to t h e m ' , jl It is the liturgical o r d e r of the C h u r c h ' s y e a r with the
anglican emphasis u p o n p s a l m o d y and the bible as a whole. F o r H e r b e r t
the Protestant, the all-sufficiency of scripture is never in doubt:
Not a word or look
I affect to own,
But by book,
A n d thy book alone (Discipline: 178).
But for the H i g h C h u r c h m a n the sacraments, the two ' o r d a i n e d of Christ
our L o r d in the gospel, that is to say, Baptism, and the S u p p e r of the L o r d '
(Article X X V ) , are the heart of the matter: ' T h e C o u n t r e y Parson being to
administer the Sacraments, is at a stand with himself, how or what
b e h a v i o u r to assume for so holy things. Especially at C o m m u n i o n times he
is in a great confusion, as being not only to receive God, but to break, and
administer h i m ' . H e celebrates, 'if not duly once a month, yet at least five
or six time in the y e a r ' (257;259). T h e infrequency does not imply a low
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doctrine of the eucharist. Its importance and H e r b e r t ' s sense of unworthiness in relation to it are clear in ' T h e Priesthood' (written, A m y Charles
suggests, as he drew near to ordination): 12
But th'holy m e n of God such vessels are,
As serve him up, who all the world commands:
W h e n God vouchsafeth to become our fare,
T h e i r hands convey him, who conveys their hands.
O what pure things, most pure must those things be
Who bring m y God to me (161).
Eucharistic imagery pervades The Temple. It is central to H e r b e r t ' s spirituality and the focus is always on the directness of the relationship between
atoning sacrifice and sacrament:
Who knows not Love, let him assay
A n d taste that juice, which on the crosse a pike
Did set again abroach; then let him say
if ever he did taste the like.
Love is that liquour sweet and most divine,
Which my God feels as blood; but I, as wine (The Agonie: 37).
The reality of the c o m m u n i c a t i o n of grace here is the guarantee that 'the
unworthiness of the Ministers . . . hinders not the effect of the Sacrament'
(Article X X V I ) and H e r b e r t was aware of the grace no less than of his
unworthiness.
Holiness on the head,
Light and perfections on the breast,
H a r m o n i o u s bells below, raising the dead
To leade them unto life a n d rest:
T h u s are true Aarons drest.
Profaneness in m y head,
Defects and darknesse in my breast,
A noise of passions ringing me for dead
U n t o a place where is no rest:
Poore priest thus am I drest.
Onely another head
I have, another heart and breast,
Another musick, making live not dead,
W i t h o u t whom I could have no rest:
In him I am well drest.
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
319
Christ is m y onely head,
M y alone onely heart a n d breast,
M y onely musick, striking me e ' e n dead;
T h a t to the old m a n I m a y rest,
A n d be in h i m new drest.
So holy in m y head,
Perfect and light in m y deare breast,
M y doctrine t u n ' d by Christ (who is not dead,
But lives in m e while I do rest),
C o m e people; A a r o n ' s drest (Aaron: 174).
I n this p o e m (an excellent example of the use of typology) the same words
are to be found in all five stanzas. Those which 'express H e r b e r t ' s dejection
in r e g a r d to himself are used to express the hope that comes of p u t t i n g on
C h r i s t ' . T h u s the form of the p o e m expresses the sacramental transfiguration of m a n ' s 'noise of passions' into divine h a r m o n y by C h r i s t ' s presence
( ' m y onely musick'). A n d H e r b e r t ' s two vocations, to the priesthood a n d to
poetry, are both conceived sacramentally - - 'each a means of realizing the
presence of G o d a n d i m p a r t i n g that presence to others'.13
A wreathed garland of deserved praise,
O f praise deserved, unto thee I give,
I give to thee, who knowest all m y wayes,
M y crooked w i n d i n g wayes, wherein I live,
W h e r e i n I die not live: for life is straight,
Straight as a line, a n d ever tends to thee,
To thee, who are m o r e farre above deceit,
T h a n deceit seems above simplicitie.
Give me simplicitie, that I m a y live,
So live and like, that I m a y know thy wayes,
K n o w them a n d practise them: then shall I give
For this poore wreath, give thee a crown of praise (The Wreath: 185).
H e r b e r t , as a sixteen-year-old u n d e r g r a d u a t e had written to his m o t h e r
enclosing two sonnets, 'to declare m y resolution to be, that m y poore
Abilities in Poetry, shall be all, and ever consecrated to G o d ' s glo.ry' (363).
The poetry of The Temple, written nearly twenty years before being given
the final form in which it was sent from his death-bed to his friend Nicholas
F e r r a r , reveals his devotion to this vocation.
T h e poetic achievement m u s t not be underestimated. H e r b e r t was a
master of prosody: ' I t is scarcely credible that anyone could attribute to him
more subtlety than he possessed'. 14 But the overriding aim was a h u m b l e
simplicity, as the m a t u r e poem, ' T h e W r e a t h ' , reveals: 'Give m e simplicitie,
that I m a y live'. There is a profound contradiction in the struggle to achieve
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simplicity through the mastery of poetic form, and the use of the latter as
the vehicle for spiritual insight, which has been missed by his anglican
hagiographers. ' T h u s W a l t o n ' , writes C. A. Patrides, 'elected to observe in
H e r b e r t the self-abnegation o f the pious individual, not the agony of a poet
for whom humility was u n o b t a i n a b l e precisely because he was a great
poet'. 15T h e poetry is precisely ' a picture of the m a n y spiritual conflicts that
have passed betwixt G o d a n d m y soul, before I could subject mine to the
will of Jesus m y Master'.16 T h e insight a n d the vehicle are one. It was not,
as the y o u n g m a n had so confidently asserted, simply a m a t t e r of dedicating
his art to G o d ' s service. T h e poetic mastery was achieved as the realization,
the articulation of the profundity of his spirituality. Nevertheless, the contradiction, sharpened by H e r b e r t ' s Calvinism, r e m a i n e d . H o w could the
poetic mastery be achieved without distraction from G o d to the seif?. M a n ' s
will, corrupted by sin, vitiates the very attempt to subdue the will which is
the motive for writing. Perhaps the simple answer was to hand:
As flames do work and winde, when t h e y ascend,
So did I weave myself into the sense.
But while I bustled, I might heare a friend
W h i s p e r , How wide is all this long pretence!
There is in love a sweetnesse readie penn'd:
Copie out onely that, and save expense (Jordan H: 103).
But the quiet voice of Christ in this and other poems only deepens the
problem. W e know that the words are H e r b e r t ' s own. Perhaps he is
renouncing poetry. But he is doing it in a poem. T h e r e is no simple resolution of the difficulty. T h e poem is t h e necessary vehicle of his insight a n d
yet it must, in a sense, be renounced and no credit can be claimed for its
achievement. T h e poem embodies with great clarity the c o m m o n experience of any Christian who would offer a 'crown of praise'.
If all his poetry moves towards the h y m n of praise, nevertheless, Grief,
Sinne, Vanitie, S e l f - C o n d e m n a t i o n must all find expression. A b o v e all he
had to face suffering• H e r b e r t wrote to his m o t h e r in her own sickness in
M a y 1622: ' I alwaies f e a r ' d sickness m o r e than death because sickness hath
made me unable to p e r f o r m those Offices for which I came into the world,
and must yet be kept in it' (373). At times it seemed to him that G o d h a d
called him to the priesthood only to frustrate the very purpose of his calling:
• . . when after m u c h delay,
M u c h wrastling, m a n y a combate, this deare end,
So m u c h d e s i r ' d , is giv'n, to take away
M y power to serve thee; to u n b e n d
All m y abilities, m y designes confound,
A n d lay m y threatnings bleeding on the g r o u n d . . . .
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
321
T o have m y aim, and yet to be
F u r t h e r from it than when I bent my bow;
To make m y hopes my torture, and the fee
O f all m y woes another wo,
Is in the midst of delicates to need,
A n d e v ' n in Paradise to be a weed.
H e never glosses over the frustration or the complaint (and we are reminded
of the importance of the psalms in anglican spirituality). Here, as in other
poems, H e r b e r t twists and turns in a struggle which can only end with
submission:
A n d yet since these thy contradictions
Are properly a crosse felt by thy Sonne,
W i t h hut foure words, m y words, Thy will be done
(The Crosse: 164-65).
Such inner conflict is exacerbated for the Calvinist for whom the love of
G o d in election is utterly beyond m a n ' s understanding. T h e r e is nothing in
man, 'thy wretch so full of stains', deserving of any love. T h e pastor m a y
reassure his despairing parishioner that there are pledges of G o d ' s love
'which way soever he turnes' (283). But he himself, knowing the inscrutable character of election did not escape the terrible doubt that his sense of
assurance might be illusory. ' P e r s e v e r a n c e ' most movingly expresses the
h o r r o r of this doubt and the dread possibility that his very words reveal him
to be condemned:
M y God, the poore expressions of my Love
Which w a r m these lines and serve them up to thee
Are so, as for the present I did move,
O r rather as thou movedst mee.
But what shall issue, whither these m y words
Shal help another, but m y j u d g m e n t bee,
As a burst fouling-peece doth save the birds
But kill the m a n , is seald with thee.
ffor who can tell, though thou has dyde to winn
A n d wedd m y Soule in glorious paradise,
W h i t h e r my m a n y crimes and use of sinn
M a y yet forbid the banes a n d bliss?
Onely m y soule hangs on thy promisses
W i t h face and hands clinging unto thy brest,
Clinging and crying, crying without cease,
T h o u art my rock, thou are my rest (204-05).
322
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
Characteristically, this poem was not included in The Temple - - p r e s u m a b l y
because it was unlikely to ' t u r n to the advantage of any dejected poor soul'.
A n d in the poem, ' A s s u r a n c e ' , the ' r a n k poyson' of doubt is rejected for
confidence in the covenant of grace. Because nothing depends u p o n
H e r b e r t but all on Christ, it cannot fail:
T h o u art not only to perform thy part,
But also mine: as when the league was m a d e
T h o u didst at once thy self indite
A n d hold my hand, while I did write (156).
H e r b e r t does not evade either the frustration and doubt or the anger and
resentment which he also felt. It is expressed in p r a y e r which may, at times,
be, ' E n g i n e against t h ' A l m i g h t i e , sinners t o w r e , / R e v e r s e d t h u n d e r ' . But it
is also a 'Christ-side-piercing spear . . . .
Exalted m a n n a . . . the souls
b l o u d ' . A n d finally, although this can only be spoken of within the poem
itself, it is ' s o m e t h i n g u n d e r s t o o d ' (Prayer 1: 51).
But above all, for H e r b e r t , Christ remains, ' m y onely m u s i c k ' , the
saviour who not only teaches men to sound the divine h a r m o n y of praise
but who, in his cross and passion, is himself both instrument and melody:
Rise heart; thy L o r d is risen. Sing his praise
W i t h o u t delayes,
W h o takes thee by the hand, that thou likewise
W i t h him mayst rise:
T h a t , as his death calcined thee to d u s t ,
His life m a y make thee gold, a n d m u c h more, just.
Awake, m y lute, a n d struggle for thy part
W i t h all thy art.
T h e crosse taught all wood to resound his name,
W h o bore the same.
His stretched sinews t a u g h t a l l strings, what key
Is best to celebrate this most high day.
Consort both heart and lute, and twist a song
Pleasant and long:
Or, since all musick is but three parts vied
A n d multiplied,
O let thy blessed Spirit b e a r a p a r t
A n d make up our defects with his sweet art (Easter: 41-42).
KeithL. Ya~s.
DIVINE CALL AND HUMAN RESPONSE
323
NOTES
1 Walton, Izaak: The life of Mr George Herbert (London, 1927), p 305•
2 All page references' given for Herbert's letters, for poems from The Temple and for The
Country Parson are to The Works of George Herbert, F. E. Hutchinson (ed.), (Oxford, 1941).
3 Walton, Izaak: op. cit., p 289.
4 Summers, Joseph: GeorgeHerbert: his religion and art (London, 1954).
5 Walton, Izaak: op. cir., p 314.
6 Tuve, Rosemond: A reading of George Herbert (London, 1952), pp 104-05.
7 Bennett, J.A.W.: Poetryof the Passion: studies in twelve centuriesof english verse(Oxford, 1982), p 153.
8 Tuve, Rosemond: op. cir., p 74.
9 Martz, Louis: Thepoetry of meditations: A study in english religious literature of the seventeenth centuO,
(Yale University Press, 1954), pp 92, 207.
10 The works of George Herbert, vol 1 (London, 1841), CX.
11 Walton, Izaak: op. cit., p 308..
12 Charles, Amy: A life of George Herbert (Ithaca, 1977), pp 140-41.
13 Shaw, Robert B.: The call of God." the theme of vocation in the poetry of Donne and Herbert
(Cambridge, 1981), pp 95-96.
14 Vendler, Helen: The poetry of George Herbert (Cambridge, 1975), p 5.
15 The english poems of George Herbert (London, 1974), p 6.
16 Walton, Izaak: op. cir., p 314.