Sunday, April 12, 2015

A poem for Easter

A  favorite poem for Easter and poetry month:


Easter Wings

BY GEORGE HERBERT
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 thy victorie:
         For, if I imp my wing on thine,
Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Thank you to Poetry Foundation.

3 comments:

gretchenjoanna said...

I hadn't seen that poem before, and I love the theology behind it, especially in the line: "Then shall the fall further the flight..."

Thanks, Emily!

Emily J. said...

I first saw it printed sideways, so it looks like birds' or butterflies' wings, instead of hourglasses, but I didn't have much time to spend searching the internet looking for that form. I've used it in class a couple times, but this term my students aren't very religious and didn't pick up on the idea of a "happy fall" or the pattern of thinning in the middle that follows the sinning plus the thickening or regrowth of the lines after "with thee." So much packed in this short poem!

Enbrethiliel said...

+JMJ+

Happy Easter, Emily! I've read Easter Wings before, but until today, never actually during Easter. =)

Reading is one form of escape. Running for your life is another.
-Lemony Snicket