"So BOTH should losers be" - isn't that an amazing, unexpected truth? Quite breathtaking. It makes me think of Paul's words to the Ephesians that he is praying for them to know (likely because like us they'd find it hard to believe) "the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people" - not riches he has for them, true as that is, but that they - we! - are HIS inheritance, rich and glorious. Herbert, again, is right on the money, both theologically and poetically.
Dear Karen, I listened to you read this post while I was driving today, and am anxious to get home and get my Herbert volume in front of me to read the poem. Hearing you remind us about the value of reading poems out loud so that the way the words sound in our mouths will send signals to our brain really resonated. Thank you again for inviting us all to your classroom.
(PS, how fun to have a story of Ruby in this upcoming book. Gosh I remember praying for her safe return all those years ago. How we rejoiced!)
Just to be clear: I am not a cognitive scientist so I don’t know if the way I describe what happens to my brain when I read these words out loud is scientifically correct—but something happens. 😃
well............ I spent a lot of years in the classroom and did do some extra coursework in brain research and learning :-) you're totally a cognitive scientist!
Expanding on Jesus' promise of rest, the letter to the Hebrews indicates that Jesus is our rest (4:9-10): "There remains therefore a rest [Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
As it says in the letter to the Ephesians (2:8), salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by our own works. Hebrews chapter 4 has a lot to say about entering into rest, and some of it is in warning.
Learning so much from the comments on this. When I think of our restlessness pulling us back to God, I began to think more about the imagery of the pulley. From an engineering perspective, the utility of the pulley is how it reduces the pulling force required to move a given weight. God has built-in our restless that pulls us back to him, and the imagery of a pulley reminds me that God has, through the free gift of grace, even provided the very mechanism to easily be pulled back to Him. From a lose/lose to a win/win!
Thank you for adding that engineering perspective! I think it’s vital to the metaphor. I suppose pulleys are less common in most of our everyday lives, at least in an obvious way. So it’s helpful to think more about how they work. For years, I had a beautiful clothesline between two trees that operated by pulley. How I loved that line!
Since my "retirement" (you know), I have been working through so many books I've had without ever getting to them. Many have been books of poetry. I got The Complete English Poems of George Herbert for a grad school course on Donne, Herbert, and Marvell. (I didn't particularly shine in that course.)
So I have decided to read the whole thing, a bit short of 200 pages for the poetry itself. I am in no hurry. This morning I read several poems and particularly enjoyed "The Agonie" and "The Sinner." With no quibble with your choices, Karen, I would remind your readers that these are all samples and selections which might be read like Netflix recommendations: "You might also enjoy . . . "
**Types in Google search** "What does a "span" mean in Old English?" I found it meant the width of a hand.
**Types again in Google search" "What is a "stay" in Old English?" Google said "a strong rope used to steady of support something."
I'm not sure if I'm on the right track, but I like the idea that all the world's riches fitting in Gods hand, and that hand he uses to control ??? the pulley? Not sure but I like the idea of him holding the blessings and being in control.
I missed the play on the word "rest", I'm so glad you explained it.
"It’s not just that humans lose by not resting in God, but that God loses in not having us come to him. God desperately desires us to turn to him. (Of course, God isn’t “desperate” about anything, but you know what I mean—and, I hope, what Herbert means to communicate here about God’s desire to fellowship with his children.)"
When I was a teen in youth group we were told again and again that we were worthless sinners and always need to repent. Maybe it's that its past midnight or I'm in an especially tender place today, but your insight made me boohoo. I know and believe that God not only wants me to come to him but desires to have a relationship with me. It took me too long to realize this, but I'm so glad I did a few years ago.
Mel, I love that you looked up and found the Old English meaning of a 'span' as the width of a hand. Reading the poem once more with that in mind really illuminates for me a picture of God literally holding all things in His hand, as if he might be holding a bit of salt in his palms, ready to add it to a pot of soup--I know, odd analogy.
But the picture helps me see that God slowly 'pours' things out of His hand...then pauses and withholds the 'rest' - as in 'the leftover' for that is how I read it--until the end.
There are soooooo many ways to read these poems--thanks for your thoughts here.
Profound, thank you, Karen! The poem is an esoteric reference to Kabbalah, which learned Christians became profoundly influenced by, especially (after Herbert) with the Kabbalah de nudata, the first Latin translation of parts of the Zohar. The beginning of the poem alludes to the doctrine of Tzinzum, the divine contraction to make way for creation, and the attributes next mentioned refer to the Sefiroth, etc etc. Isaac Newton et al. were all deeply influenced by the Zohar.
This is a through-line in my book, coming out next year, and my mentor at Yale, Paul Franks, has done a lot of work on the influence of Kabbalah in later philosophy. The work I’m doing in Milton also deals with his use and (misunderstanding) of Kabbalah.
Samuel, this is entirely new to me, this influence in Herbert of Kabbalah! And honestly, the most puzzling part of the poem for me has always been that phrase “contract into a span.” I’m eager to learn more about this from your book. Please share more here as you are able. Grateful for your enlightenment on these points!
Maybe it’s a more common phrase/concept from long ago that predates Herbert…very interesting. It may be one of those things that you keep seeing once made aware of it!
Yes maybe so. I got all excited when I thought I'd spotted Bob Dylan had taken a phrase from a Wendell Berry poem to use for an album title but a friend said he thought it was a common enough phrase. Excitement well and truly doused.
I think the imagery is Biblical in origin, via the KJV translation:
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" - Isaiah 40:12
"Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together." - Isaiah 48:13
The writer of Hebrews talks about a "Sabbath rest" promised to the people of God, which was withheld from Israel because of their disobedience. Then we are told that this promised rest still remains and we should do all that we can to obtain it. Jesus says "come to me you weary and I will give you rest." With Herbert's metaphor, I imagine a line going through a heavenly pulley, one end fastened to a heavy cargo net full of my restlessness. I strain and pull and raise this load heavenward, where I hope that Jesus will exchange it for a net bulging with rest.
"So BOTH should losers be" - isn't that an amazing, unexpected truth? Quite breathtaking. It makes me think of Paul's words to the Ephesians that he is praying for them to know (likely because like us they'd find it hard to believe) "the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people" - not riches he has for them, true as that is, but that they - we! - are HIS inheritance, rich and glorious. Herbert, again, is right on the money, both theologically and poetically.
Love that connection with our being HIS inheritance! Herbert knew his stuff (as do you, Richard!). 😄
Dear Karen, I listened to you read this post while I was driving today, and am anxious to get home and get my Herbert volume in front of me to read the poem. Hearing you remind us about the value of reading poems out loud so that the way the words sound in our mouths will send signals to our brain really resonated. Thank you again for inviting us all to your classroom.
(PS, how fun to have a story of Ruby in this upcoming book. Gosh I remember praying for her safe return all those years ago. How we rejoiced!)
Just to be clear: I am not a cognitive scientist so I don’t know if the way I describe what happens to my brain when I read these words out loud is scientifically correct—but something happens. 😃
well............ I spent a lot of years in the classroom and did do some extra coursework in brain research and learning :-) you're totally a cognitive scientist!
😅😂
Expanding on Jesus' promise of rest, the letter to the Hebrews indicates that Jesus is our rest (4:9-10): "There remains therefore a rest [Sabbath] to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also has ceased from his own works, as God did from his."
As it says in the letter to the Ephesians (2:8), salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ, not by our own works. Hebrews chapter 4 has a lot to say about entering into rest, and some of it is in warning.
Maybe Jesus is the pulley!
Of course "The Pulley" inverts the Pandora myth, in which she releases all kinds of ills upon the world and holds back hope.
Oh, yes! Thanks for reminding us of that. Very important aspect of the poem.
Learning so much from the comments on this. When I think of our restlessness pulling us back to God, I began to think more about the imagery of the pulley. From an engineering perspective, the utility of the pulley is how it reduces the pulling force required to move a given weight. God has built-in our restless that pulls us back to him, and the imagery of a pulley reminds me that God has, through the free gift of grace, even provided the very mechanism to easily be pulled back to Him. From a lose/lose to a win/win!
Thank you for adding that engineering perspective! I think it’s vital to the metaphor. I suppose pulleys are less common in most of our everyday lives, at least in an obvious way. So it’s helpful to think more about how they work. For years, I had a beautiful clothesline between two trees that operated by pulley. How I loved that line!
Since my "retirement" (you know), I have been working through so many books I've had without ever getting to them. Many have been books of poetry. I got The Complete English Poems of George Herbert for a grad school course on Donne, Herbert, and Marvell. (I didn't particularly shine in that course.)
So I have decided to read the whole thing, a bit short of 200 pages for the poetry itself. I am in no hurry. This morning I read several poems and particularly enjoyed "The Agonie" and "The Sinner." With no quibble with your choices, Karen, I would remind your readers that these are all samples and selections which might be read like Netflix recommendations: "You might also enjoy . . . "
This makes my heart glad, Jack! And, yes, I hope more readers will pick up more of these complete texts. I know Jody Collins did so with Donne.
This is how it went for me:
**Types in Google search** "What does a "span" mean in Old English?" I found it meant the width of a hand.
**Types again in Google search" "What is a "stay" in Old English?" Google said "a strong rope used to steady of support something."
I'm not sure if I'm on the right track, but I like the idea that all the world's riches fitting in Gods hand, and that hand he uses to control ??? the pulley? Not sure but I like the idea of him holding the blessings and being in control.
I missed the play on the word "rest", I'm so glad you explained it.
"It’s not just that humans lose by not resting in God, but that God loses in not having us come to him. God desperately desires us to turn to him. (Of course, God isn’t “desperate” about anything, but you know what I mean—and, I hope, what Herbert means to communicate here about God’s desire to fellowship with his children.)"
When I was a teen in youth group we were told again and again that we were worthless sinners and always need to repent. Maybe it's that its past midnight or I'm in an especially tender place today, but your insight made me boohoo. I know and believe that God not only wants me to come to him but desires to have a relationship with me. It took me too long to realize this, but I'm so glad I did a few years ago.
I’m so glad, too, Mel. Really glad.
And looking up new words or words used in unexpected ways makes reading fun!
Mel, I love that you looked up and found the Old English meaning of a 'span' as the width of a hand. Reading the poem once more with that in mind really illuminates for me a picture of God literally holding all things in His hand, as if he might be holding a bit of salt in his palms, ready to add it to a pot of soup--I know, odd analogy.
But the picture helps me see that God slowly 'pours' things out of His hand...then pauses and withholds the 'rest' - as in 'the leftover' for that is how I read it--until the end.
There are soooooo many ways to read these poems--thanks for your thoughts here.
I read it that way too, or I should say, imagined it. I'm noticing as I read this kind of poetry that I "see" it in my mind as I read it.
Profound, thank you, Karen! The poem is an esoteric reference to Kabbalah, which learned Christians became profoundly influenced by, especially (after Herbert) with the Kabbalah de nudata, the first Latin translation of parts of the Zohar. The beginning of the poem alludes to the doctrine of Tzinzum, the divine contraction to make way for creation, and the attributes next mentioned refer to the Sefiroth, etc etc. Isaac Newton et al. were all deeply influenced by the Zohar.
This is a through-line in my book, coming out next year, and my mentor at Yale, Paul Franks, has done a lot of work on the influence of Kabbalah in later philosophy. The work I’m doing in Milton also deals with his use and (misunderstanding) of Kabbalah.
Samuel, this is entirely new to me, this influence in Herbert of Kabbalah! And honestly, the most puzzling part of the poem for me has always been that phrase “contract into a span.” I’m eager to learn more about this from your book. Please share more here as you are able. Grateful for your enlightenment on these points!
Looks like Charles Wesley liked that thought/phrase and borrowed it from Herbert...
Let earth and heaven combine,
angels and men agree
to praise in songs divine
the incarnate Deity;
our God contracted to a span,
incomprehensibly made man.
Maybe it’s a more common phrase/concept from long ago that predates Herbert…very interesting. It may be one of those things that you keep seeing once made aware of it!
Yes maybe so. I got all excited when I thought I'd spotted Bob Dylan had taken a phrase from a Wendell Berry poem to use for an album title but a friend said he thought it was a common enough phrase. Excitement well and truly doused.
😅🤣🤣🤣
I think the imagery is Biblical in origin, via the KJV translation:
"Who hath measured the waters in the hollow of his hand, and meted out heaven with the span, and comprehended the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighed the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance?" - Isaiah 40:12
"Mine hand also hath laid the foundation of the earth, and my right hand hath spanned the heavens: when I call unto them, they stand up together." - Isaiah 48:13
I’m wondering if “contracting” into a span is original to Herbert. It’s just such an unusual and evocative phrase!
The writer of Hebrews talks about a "Sabbath rest" promised to the people of God, which was withheld from Israel because of their disobedience. Then we are told that this promised rest still remains and we should do all that we can to obtain it. Jesus says "come to me you weary and I will give you rest." With Herbert's metaphor, I imagine a line going through a heavenly pulley, one end fastened to a heavy cargo net full of my restlessness. I strain and pull and raise this load heavenward, where I hope that Jesus will exchange it for a net bulging with rest.
That is a beautiful and powerful image, Charlie. Thank you for it.