Further Biblical Allusions in Herbert's "Love" Poems

Abstract

Further Biblical Allusions in Herbert's "Love" Poems by Jan Anderson George Herbert's poetic theory, deeply rooted in the Bible, may be summed up in line 21 of "The Flower": "Thy word is all, if we could spell."1 Certainly, Herbert himself practiced a poetics in which the Scripture was central. Although an excellent full-length study of Herbert's indebtedness to the Bible has recently been published, it does not of course explicate all his biblical allusions.2 In fact, scholars have so far overlooked several key biblical allusions in the three poems titled "Love," allusions that are crucial in understanding the application of Herbert's poetic theory to these poems. In "Love" (I) and (II) Herbert deliberately uses the sonnet form, which is significant in that these poems, along with the two sonnets on Walton's Life and others in "The Church," are parodies.3 "Love* (I) and (II) are meant to form a pair and show a progression from the poet's critique of sacrilegious love poetry to an exposition of the poet's desire to compose divine love poetry. The use of key biblical allusions in both poems underscores the fact that God not only deserves man's praise but will have it eventually. In "Love" (I) the speaker laments how man has distorted the highest form of love, the divine, and replaced it with human, earthly, and secular love. Man has not tried to imitate or copy God's love, but instead has attempted to use his own natural imagination as a substitute. This mortal love, however, does not possess immortal beauty which can never fade. The invocation to "Immortali Love" in line 1 is a traditional device used here to address God, the supreme and original creator. Herbert goes on to express how man has "parcel'd out" the divine "glorious name" and has used "love" as a merely human term of man's own creation. Herbert associates this inferior love with invention. Those who praise this love think they are so clever and creative because they are "metaphysical" in their 42Jan Anderson fusion of passion and feeling, not recognizing that God is the one who created heart and brain in the first place. Using only his intellectual ability, man tries by his own power alone to imitate beauty. Beauty seems to elevate this intellectual faculty of man, but wit and beauty are merely playing their parts in the fallen world. Meanwhile, God's love, which delivered man from the pit of hell, stands in the background. But who sings God's praise? Instead, men sing of secular love, the trifles of ladies' gloves and scarfs inspiring them, and ignore the highest form of all love — God's. The word "workmanship" in line 8 brings to mind Ephesians 2:8-10, not mentioned in Chana Bloch's fine study of biblical allusions and typology: For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them. It is significant that the word "workmanship" here is the Greek word "poiema," connoting poetic creation or poem. Since we are God's poem, Herbert seemed to reason, God should be our poem. Thus our secondary poetic creations image forth God. Even when one is unaware or unconscious of the source of man's gifts, he is nonetheless showing forth God in his creative works. In "Love" (II) the speaker progresses to the positive use of love as a motivating force causing the poet to sing praise to God. The poetic theory advanced here is the classical one, developed by Plato and Longinus, that the poet has no power of his own but is a vehicle of the gods as they use him for their purposes. The poet is the divine instrument and is controlled totally by the inspiration of the gods. Herbert Christianizes this pagan idea and thus envisions the poet as the singer of God's praise as he is inspired by him to do his will...