"The land of spices; something understood." Last evening our mission team dined at The Spice Village in the predominately South Asian community of Southall in greater London. This morning as I read your post I reflected on how a fine meal, even spicy, engaged with good conversation between brothers and sisters can be a taste of God's kingdom here and now in the ordinary.
Herbert's poem is itself a banquet, so many rivers of thought emptying into the one ocean. I love it dearly. Each line can be lived with (and in) for a long time but I find I'm most often taken with how he chooses to close the poem with what feels like the most prosaic phrase in the whole: prayer is "something understood". By whom, George? By God himself? He knows what these apparently random, half-formed utterances mean? That's so hopeful. By me?? I fear not. It remains elusive.
Re plummet - I think I've always read that as a noun rather than a verb, having in mind the plumbline that determines (sounds) how deep the sea is, so prayer tries to comprehend the depths of heaven and earth. Perhaps Herbert intends both noun and verb?
Malcolm Guite has a collection of 27 sonnets that take this poem phrase by phrase and develop its thoughts. It's a wonderful collection (it's in a book titled 'After Prayer'). Highly recommended.
The engine I thought of is an ancient one, the seige engine, conveying the idea of besieging God in heaven with one's petitions. It connects in my mind with Jacob wrestling God, saying "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." Or Job, pleading in chapter after chapter with God as in a court of law to answer Job's case. Or Jesus, telling us to pray and not to faint.
Herbert's poetry is in a style that I associated with modern poetry - creating shapes from words, or like this Prayer, composing an entire poem from multiple different short metaphors. When I took a course in writing, they talked about such modern poetic techniques and never mentioned Hebert, yet he was the real innovator.
‘The land of spices’ is a phrase that I knew from reading this poem many years ago and find deeply rich and beautiful . I have very rarely felt like this when praying, but I want to
"The land of spices; something understood." Last evening our mission team dined at The Spice Village in the predominately South Asian community of Southall in greater London. This morning as I read your post I reflected on how a fine meal, even spicy, engaged with good conversation between brothers and sisters can be a taste of God's kingdom here and now in the ordinary.
Herbert's poem is itself a banquet, so many rivers of thought emptying into the one ocean. I love it dearly. Each line can be lived with (and in) for a long time but I find I'm most often taken with how he chooses to close the poem with what feels like the most prosaic phrase in the whole: prayer is "something understood". By whom, George? By God himself? He knows what these apparently random, half-formed utterances mean? That's so hopeful. By me?? I fear not. It remains elusive.
Re plummet - I think I've always read that as a noun rather than a verb, having in mind the plumbline that determines (sounds) how deep the sea is, so prayer tries to comprehend the depths of heaven and earth. Perhaps Herbert intends both noun and verb?
Malcolm Guite has a collection of 27 sonnets that take this poem phrase by phrase and develop its thoughts. It's a wonderful collection (it's in a book titled 'After Prayer'). Highly recommended.
Thank you, Karen.. I hope you enjoy it.
The engine I thought of is an ancient one, the seige engine, conveying the idea of besieging God in heaven with one's petitions. It connects in my mind with Jacob wrestling God, saying "I will not let thee go, except thou bless me." Or Job, pleading in chapter after chapter with God as in a court of law to answer Job's case. Or Jesus, telling us to pray and not to faint.
Herbert's poetry is in a style that I associated with modern poetry - creating shapes from words, or like this Prayer, composing an entire poem from multiple different short metaphors. When I took a course in writing, they talked about such modern poetic techniques and never mentioned Hebert, yet he was the real innovator.
‘The land of spices’ is a phrase that I knew from reading this poem many years ago and find deeply rich and beautiful . I have very rarely felt like this when praying, but I want to