New Life

Easter Wings

BY GEORGE HERBERT

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,

      Though foolishly he lost the same,

            Decaying more and more,

                  Till he became

                        Most poore:

                        With thee

                  O let me rise

            As larks, harmoniously,

      And sing this day thy victories:

Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne

      And still with sicknesses and shame.

            Thou didst so punish sinne,

                  That I became

                        Most thinne.

                        With thee

                  Let me combine,

            And feel thy victorie:

         For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Maria Kristina Pingkan-10211500015                       Poetry Class

The Present from Jesus in Easter

       

            Analyzing Herbert’s ‘Easter Wings’ telling about Easter, helps me to more realize and understand about   the goodness of Jesus’ resurrection and the unity with Him behind Easter moment that symbolized as wings. It reveals on the many aspects of this poem such as, title, theme, structure, prosody, dramatic situation, diction, imagery and figures of speech, and the tone. Therefore, this beautiful poem reveals the beauty of Jesus’ sacrifice at the cross and His resurrection.

            The title in this poem conceives me about what the substance the author will bring to the reader. Though it just has two words, ‘easter’ and ‘wings’, it has an extremely deep meaning. First is easter that means as liberating. As many Christians know, at the Old Testament, easter refers to the freedom of Israel from Egypt while at the New Testament, it refers to the resurrection of Jesus. Therefore, the meaning of easter is about liberation, resurrection, freedom bringing joy and happiness to man from condemnation of sin. Furthermore, it also tells about a new hope and healing. Next is about wings which relate to bird that learn to fly and rise higher. So, the word ‘wings’ used by the author, perhaps to gives clues about man that fall into sin but can arise and fly like a bird with the wings that Lord has given to us because of His love. In conclusion, ‘Easter Wings’ telling about the goodness of Jesus’ resurrection and the unity with Him that set us free, so that we can arise from sin, united and fly with Him.

            Then, the theme of this poem is about a man who is united with God’s resurrection as a meaning of Easter itself. As I explain my analysis on the 2^nd paragraph before, I interpret this poem as a reflection and a give thanks expression of the author as a human that so loved by his creator. On the first stanza, it tells about man who falls into sin, he lost all the goodness that Jesus has given to him because of his sin. In the deep depression (…the fall further flight in me), he still sing which in my opinion refers to his perspective in general condition.  Whereas, on the 2^nd stanzas shows the first perspective as a human which becomes his reflection of his religious experience when he falls into sin and then arise and united with God’s resurrection. Moreover, it has drawn clearly on the title. Therefore, I am so interested in this beautiful and meaningful poem.

            Next aspect is the structure of this poem which is divided into three parts, such as lines and stanzas, shape, grammar, and repetition. First, it has two stanzas in this poem which each has ten lines. So, there are twenty lines in this poem. The stanzas and lines make a form like wings if we turn the poem paper to the left or to the right showing the connection with the title and the main idea of this poem. Besides, if I watch carefully, the form also like stairs symbolizing about the situation in human’s life when fall and then rise. However, it still easy to understand though the grammar is old style language such as ‘thou’, ‘thee’, ‘createdst, etc. Last, there are many repetition on this poem that makes it becomes beautiful. For example, at the 3^rd line on the first stanza, the word ‘more’ is repeated twice to show that the author more and more weak (… decaying more and more). Besides, there are many words repeated twice, such as ‘most’( line 5 and 15) show the lowest degree of man’s existence (… most poor …most thin), ‘with Thee’(line 6 and 16) show the moment when man united with his Creator, ‘let me’(line 7 and 17) show as a prayer (… with thee O let me rise…with thee let me combine), ‘shall’(line 10 and 20) to emphasize a probability (… shall the fall further… affliction shall advance…)and ‘the flight’( line 10 and 20) as a result of the unity with God’s resurrection. In conclusion, this poem has a unique structure that makes it more interesting.

            After that, the prosody in this poem divided into two parts, there are the rhyme and sound effects which makes it beautiful. The rhyme in this poem is various such as, true and end rhyme (store, more, same, became, thee, harmoniously, me, begin, sin, thee, victory, me, combine, thine). Besides, it also has internal rhyme (in, begin, man, and, shall, fall) forming the beauty of ‘Easter-Wings’. Then, the sound of this poem seems like someone who is praying with a slow and calm music which reminds me about the Psalm of King David. In brief, the beauty of this poem also applied by Herbert on the rhyme and sound of this poem.

            Moreover, the beauty of this poem also located in the dramatic situation where the speaker prays and seems beg to the Lord to save him from the darkness of his life (… with thee O let me rise, let me combine). Firstly, he praises his Creator (1^st stanza), then, he reflects to himself that he really needs God and want to be saved and united by Him, so that he can rise by the wings of God (2^nd stanza). Moreover, the wings that he gets from God’s sacrifice as a picture of a bird who needs other birds wings to imp into his injured wings, so that he can fly again. It means, Jesus must die to put His ‘wings’ to us, so we, who was lost because of sin, can ‘fly’ into Heavenly Father’s presence without guilty and condemnation. In short, the dramatic situation of this poem is when the author combines with thee, imp his wing on thine, and advance the flight (2^nd stanza).

            Furthermore, the diction of this poem is understandable though it uses some English old-style words and many semantic words. For example, for English old style there are thy, thou, thee, thine whereas for semantic words there are tender age, fall further, the flight, imp my wing, let me rise, let me combine, etc. Thus, this poem was written by a old religious author, so it is full with old style and semantic words which make it as a craft of that age.

            Then, the figure of speech of this poem using simile to compare human’s fall into sin with the stairs and the resurrection as wings (based on the form of how this poem is written). Besides, the author also compares Jesus’ sacrifice as the killed bird whose wings are given to other bird that still alive. So, like I’ve explained above that this poem full of semantic word and meaning that I can’t understand one by one.

            The last is the tone of this poem where the speaker seems in the quiet place is praying alone and singing a psalm for Creator’s goodness while reflecting his live on Easter Day. Then, the speaker realizes how good is his God whose death save him from the darkness and make him arise together with His resurrection. While thinking about this amazing grace, the speaker reflects the depth of the sin he had passed or made him fall. In addition, I guess that the speaker is a man as a picture of Adam, the first man in the Bible, who lost because of his sin and became poor though at the first, he got everything (wealth and store)from God (1^st stanza). The reason I guess that because the author of this poem is a man (George Herbert). However, this poem also intend for man in generally including women.  Therefore, the tone of this poem is calm, soft, slow showing the situation in a prayer room, church, or confession room with songs like in the Psalm.

            Although many things in this poem still confusing me, I still excited during analyze this poem because the beauty of this poem reminds me about the goodness of Jesus’ sacrifice and resurrection. I also had the same experience with the author or the speaker where I had felt fall too deep into darkness but I still can see His wings lift me up and make me rise. So, it has strengthened me to rise higher than before with His wings. It likes religious experience that I believe will bring new hope into those whose hearts touched by Him to understand the amazing grace behind His resurrection.

            Therefore, the aspects in this poem bring me to understand the meaning of Easter as a present from God to His children. The present is ‘the wings’ to help us rise and fly to the presence of Heavenly Father. Besides, it also draws the unity between God and His child. Last, I thank God for reminding me about His love by this poem.