George Herbert (1593-1633) was an English poet known for his expression of deep religious feeling and moving imagery in his poetry. Born to an aristocratic family, Herbert was the seventh-born of ten children. Herbert showed an aptitude for poetry from an early age, sending his mother a pair of sonnets as a present when he was seventeen years old. Though he had the potential to serve in high positions in court, Herbert was most content when he settled down as a parish priest in the countryside, where he faithfully cared for his congregation. While on his deathbed at the age of thirty-nine, Herbert sent his poems to a friend, not thinking much of the collection, but writing that he desired “him to read it; and then, if he can think it may turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul, let it be made public; if not, let him burn it.” The poems were indeed posthumously published, including among them the poem “The Dawning,” which describes the sudden change on Easter morning from death and sorrow to life and joy:
Awake, sad heart, whom sorrow ever drowns;
Take up thine eyes, which feed on earth;
Unfold thy forehead, gathered into frowns;
Thy Saviour comes, and with him mirth:
Awake, awake,
And with a thankful heart his comforts take.
But thou dost still lament, and pine, and cry,
And feel his death, but not his victory.
Arise, sad heart; if thou dost not withstand,
Christ’s resurrection thine may be;
Do not by hanging down break from the hand
Which, as it riseth, raiseth thee:
Arise, arise,
And with his burial linen dry thine eyes.
Christ left his grave clothes, that we might, when grief
Draws tears or blood, not want a handkerchief.
Not wasting any time in creating double layers of meaning, Herbert lets the title of the poem lead in two different directions—to point both to the time of the Resurrection and to the mourner’s dawning realization of the significance of Christ’s rising. This poem is divided into two stanzas, each one beginning with a call to the “sad heart.” One can easily imagine Mary Magdalene as an example of this sad heart, who saw the death of Christ and was so grieved that she could not see Him when He first appeared to her. Any who have been struck down by grief and sorrow are called to “take up thine eyes, which feed on earth; unfold thy forehead, gathered into frowns” and recognize the joy of the Savior risen from the dead. The line referring to taking “his comforts” reminds the reader that Christ grants consolation in tangible ways, especially in His Word and Sacraments.
In the second portion of the poem, the sad heart hears that “Christ’s resurrection thine may be” if the heart does not resist being lifted up by Christ’s raising hand. Herbert again insists that the sorrowful one arises and leaves behind tears, lest undue grief drag the heart down and sever Christ’s hold. He closes with a moving picture of Christ’s burial shroud as a comforting gift “that we might, when grief draws tears or blood, not want a handkerchief.” These grave clothes cannot physically sop up our tears or blood, but the thought of this shroud being powerless to contain the Lord of Life is indeed a beautiful comfort that consoles all sorrow and pain. Herbert acknowledges that tears will still come, but even more certain than the arrival of new pains is the certainty of Christ’s Resurrection and the comfort that this cannot fail to bring to the Christian heart.
In Christ,
Miss Engwall
