¶ The H. Communion.
NOt in rich furniture, or fine aray, Nor in a wedge of gold, Thou, who for me wast sold, To me dost now thy self convey; For so thou shouldst without me still have been, Leaving within me sinne: But by the way of nourishment and strength Thou creepst into my breast; Making thy way my rest, And thy small quantities my length; Which spread their forces into every part, Meeting sinnes force and art. Yet can these not get over to my soul, Leaping the wall that parts Our souls and fleshy hearts; But as th outworks, they may controll My rebel-flesh, and carrying thy name, Affright both sinne and shame. Onley thy grace, which with these elements comes, Knoweth the ready way, And hath the privie key, Opning the souls most subtile rooms; While those to spirits refind, at doore attend Dispatches from their friend. |
Give me my captive soul, or take My bodie also thither. Another lift like this will make Them both to be together. Before that sinne turnd flesh to stone, And all our lump to leaven; A fervent sigh might well have blown Our innocent earth to heaven. For sure when Adam did not know To sinne, or sinne to smother; He might to heavn from Paradise go, As from one room tanother. Thou hast restord us to this ease By this thy heavnly bloud; Which I can go to, when I please, And leave thearth to their food. |
Interpretation: Whalen, Robert. "'How shall I measure out thy bloud?,' or, 'Weening is not measure': TACT, Herbert, and Sacramental Devotion in the Electronic Temple." Early Modern Literary Studies 5.3 / Special Issue 4 (January, 2000): 7.1-37. Note on Form: Herberts poems sometimes take a double-poem organization with two separate stanza forms. Because he played the lute and was familiar with popular songs of his day, he may have adapted this two-part structure. He may even have intended the poems to be sung. When used simply for dancing [the pavane] was followed by a quicker dance in triple time, generally a galliard, consisting of leaps. Such pairing of dances was a constant practice throughout the [sixteenth] century. - Alec Robinson and Denis Stevens, ed. The Penguin History of Music (Penguin Books: Baltimore, 1967) Vol. 2, p. 179. John Dowland used the rounded binary [AABB] form in "The Sacred Queen Elizabeth, Her Galliard," and Thomas Morley used it in "The Merry Month of Maying." On the 2-in-1, or binary, poem form see also Christmas, Easter, Good Friday, Church-floor and The Offering. Holy Communion 1559 for George Herbert. From the Elizabethan Book of Common Prayer with appropriate poems added from The Temple. |
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