Name : Anjali Madhavjibhai Rathod
Enrollment No. : 4069206420220024
Roll No. : 2
Batch : M.A. Sem. 1 (2022-24)
Subject Code & Paper No. : 22392 - Paper 101 : Literature of the Elizabethan and Restoration Periods
Email Address : rathodanjali20022002ui@gmail.com
Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English - Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University - Bhavnagar - 364001
Analysis of Poem 'The Collar' by George Herbert
About the Author :
George Herbert (3 April 1593 – 1 March 1633) was an English poet, orator, and priest of the Church of England. The Herbert family was wealthy and powerful in both national and local government, and George was descended from the same stock as the Earls of Pembroke. His father was a member of parliament. His notable works are, The Temple, The Country Parson, Jacula Prudentum.
George Herbert was born in Wales into an artistic and wealthy family and largely raised in England. He received a good education that led to his admission to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1609.He was never a healthy man and died of consumption at age 39.
Herbert’s poetry is associated with the writings of the metaphysical poets, and he is recognised as "one of the foremost British devotional lyricists."Herbert wrote poetry in English, Latin and Greek.In 1633 all of his English poems were published in The Temple: Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations, with a preface by Ferrar. in 1633 he died of consumption, only three years after taking holy orders.
Title of the Poem ‘The Collar’
The Title word of the Poem “Collar” refers to the white band worn by the clergy, and it is the role of a priest that the poem alludes also. The word “Collar” in the title , therefore, symbolizes the priest’s role as servant. The collar suggests a dog collar or the collar of a slave. In This poem,Lines are irregular lengths. The Poet uses metaphor, similies and the conceit. The Poet expresses “harvest” as the motif of the poem.
The title of the poem, The Collar, is symbolic; it seems to represent the relationship between the man within the poem and God. "Collar" in this poem may refer to a clerical collar, which priests wear as a religious symbol. To take off the collar is to revoke one's dedication to ministry. The collar literally signifies the white collar worn by priests.
The poems of his final years, written while as a clergyman at Bemerton near Salisbury, are like nothing else in literature. They combine a profound spirituality with restless experimentation. Their language remains fresh and inspiring today.
About the Analysis of the Poem :
'The Collar' is a 1633 poem by Welsh poet George Herbert. It follows the angry thought processes of a religious narrator questioning his faith.
‘The Collar’ by George Herbert is a thirty-six line poem about a speaker’s struggle for freedom. It was written by Herbert in 1633 while he struggled with his own religious beliefs. The poem does not conform to one particular rhyme scheme but jumps from half or slant rhymes to full end rhymes.
There are a few moments that are more consistent in their patterns, such as the final four lines of the poem which rhyme abab. Herbert chose this pattern, or lack of pattern, to mimic the chaos of his speaker’s own thoughts.
The first element of this piece a reader should take note of is the title. If one understands a bit about Herbert’s religious background, the title takes on a second layer of meaning. The word “collar” has immediate connotations of submission and control but it also refers to the piece of clothing worn by a member of the clergy.
The poem's themes include the struggle with one's beliefs and the desire for autonomy in defiance of religious restriction. The speaker is trying to create his own limits, to lead himself, rather than following God.
The poem begins with the speaker stating that he will stand for his present life no longer. It is time for him to make a change and he intends to resurrect the parts of himself he lost in his youth. He will seek out real pleasures and no longer worry about what is right and wrong. (1 to 9 lines, )
I struck the board, and cried, “No more;
I will abroad!
What? shall I ever sigh and pine?
My lines and life are free, free as the road,
Loose as the wind, as large as store.
Shall I be still in suit?
Have I no harvest but a thorn
To let me blood, and not restore
What I have lost with cordial fruit?
The poet believes that he can live his life and write this story in lines “free , free as the road”. He describes his life until this point as having been unfulfilling and disappointing despite his religious work and devotion to God and Christ.
* The poem's title does that job for him. The "Collar" here has both a straightforward and a metaphorical meaning:
It's a literal clerical collar, the traditional white neckband of Christian clergymen.
But it's also a figurative restraint, a set of beliefs that holds the speaker back from doing just what he likes.(Litcharts)
God speaks to him a single word, "Child!" This calms him immediately, returning him to his senses, his temperance, and spiritual submission.
As the poem begins, then, the speaker seems like a dog about to snap his leash and chase all the pigeons his heart desires. He's tired of sitting around being responsible and feeling guilty, always "sigh[ing] and pin[ing]" over his many sins. He'd rather live a life as "free as the road."
In the first stanza of ‘The Collar’, the speaker shocks his reader by crying out, seemingly without provocation, that he has had enough. He says, ‘“No more.”’ He will not remain in his life any longer. The speaker will say “abroad.” He asks in the following lines if it is necessary for him to “sigh and pine.”
The speaker is becoming more and more sure that it is not his sole purpose in life to want something he cannot have. He is severely dissatisfied with the current direction of his life and is ready to make a change.( 10 to 18 lines, )
Sure there was wine
Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn
Before my tears did drown it.
Is the year only lost to me?
Have I no bays to crown it,
No flowers, no garlands gay? All blasted?
All wasted?
Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,
And thou hast hands.
George Herbert compares his current life with a plant that offers no fruit except thorns. These thorns harm him alone and he bleeds. The poet says that what he loses cannot be restored though he hopes to use it to reinvigorate himself.
In the next set of lines, He remembers a past in which there was “wine,” here suggesting both literal wine, the fruits of the harvest, and perhaps the sacrament, as well as corn. However, his sighs and tears have destroyed the fruits of the harvest—he has been sad for too long. He wonders if he is alone in this despair, and if he will ever receive any worldly rewards or honors, as indicated by his yearning for a bay (laurel) crow and a garland.
The speaker searches for “flowers” or “garlands gay” which might be used to improve his remaining days. Two short phrases follow; they inquire if the flowers have all been “blasted” or “wasted.” The final two lines clarify that no, they have not. In his “heart…there is fruit” still. With his hands, he plans to retrieve that fruit along with his happiness.(19 to 28 lines,)
Recover all thy sigh-blown age
On double pleasures: leave thy cold dispute
Of what is fit and not. Forsake thy cage,
Thy rope of sands,
Which petty thoughts have made, and made to thee
Good cable, to enforce and draw,
And be thy law,
While thou didst wink and wouldst not see.
Away! take heed;
I will abroad.
The second half of ‘The Collar’ begins with the speaker asking a number of different things about himself. First, he wants to recover the pleasures of his past and leave behind his “cold dispute / Of what is fit and not.” He is done wasting time worrying about what is holy, proper, or good. These things will no longer interest him. It is his goal to leave behind his cage and “rope of sand.”
The final line repeats the declaration which appears at the beginning of the poem, “I will abroad,” he will depart. (29 to 36 lines),
Call in thy death’s-head there; tie up thy fears;
He that forbears
To suit and serve his need
Deserves his load.”
But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild
At every word,
Methought I heard one calling, Child!
And I replied My Lord.
The final section of ‘The Collar’ concludes the narrator’s agitated speech and produces a slight twist to the narrative. He continues speaking to himself and tries to boost his confidence for the change he is trying to make. The speaker asks that the “death’s-head” leave him alone. He does not want to be bothered by his fears. It is his intention to “tie” them up and force them to serve his purpose.
The speech ends with a set of lines that utilize the rhyme scheme of abab. They are used to bring the speaker back to his known reality. He describes how his “rav[ing]” came to its climax and rather than building him up, it just brought on the voice of God. The speaker heard “Child!” And replied, “My Lord.” Like a child, he was chastised and brought back into the religious fold.
To Sum up,
In the final quatrain of the poem, the irregular rhyme scheme resolves into an ABAB rhymed couplet. After his wild, raving monologue, the speaker reflects: while he was growing “more fierce and wild,” he heard God’s call, “Child,” and replied, “my Lord.”
Here, the resolution of the rhyme scheme reflects the resolution of the poem: the speaker is no longer rebellious, free, and wild. Rather, he accepts that he is God’s child, and resolves to end his rebellion and accept God’s love (and God’s law) once again.
Reference
Baldwin, Emma. "The Collar by George Herbert". Poem Analysis, https://poemanalysis.com/george-herbert/the-collar/. (Emma) Accessed 4 November 2022.
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