George Herbert

Easter Wings

Wealth and store

Herbert echoes Genesis 1-2: man created in abundance. 'Store' means supply or plenty. The poem opens by establishing what was lost, not what is present.

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:

Most poore / Most thinne

These short lines physically shrink on the page, mirroring the decay described. The spacing forces you to pause, enacting the diminishment in real time.

With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,

This day thy victories

Easter context: 'this day' refers to resurrection morning. The victories are Christ's triumph over death, which the speaker claims for himself through identification.

And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

Fall further the flight

Paradox: falling enables rising. Herbert reverses the expected logic—decay becomes fuel. This is the poem's central argument, repeated twice for emphasis.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne:

Sicknesses and shame

Herbert conflates physical illness with moral punishment. This wasn't metaphorical for him—he was genuinely ill throughout his life and read suffering as divine discipline.

And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Imp my wing

'Imp' is falconry terminology: to graft feathers onto a bird's wing to restore flight. Herbert uses a technical term for repair, not spiritual abstraction.

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.

Wealth and store

Herbert echoes Genesis 1-2: man created in abundance. 'Store' means supply or plenty. The poem opens by establishing what was lost, not what is present.

Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
Most poore:

Most poore / Most thinne

These short lines physically shrink on the page, mirroring the decay described. The spacing forces you to pause, enacting the diminishment in real time.

With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,

This day thy victories

Easter context: 'this day' refers to resurrection morning. The victories are Christ's triumph over death, which the speaker claims for himself through identification.

And sing this day thy victories:
Then shall the fall further the flight in me.

Fall further the flight

Paradox: falling enables rising. Herbert reverses the expected logic—decay becomes fuel. This is the poem's central argument, repeated twice for emphasis.

My tender age in sorrow did beginne:

Sicknesses and shame

Herbert conflates physical illness with moral punishment. This wasn't metaphorical for him—he was genuinely ill throughout his life and read suffering as divine discipline.

And still with sicknesses and shame
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine,
And feel this day thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine,

Imp my wing

'Imp' is falconry terminology: to graft feathers onto a bird's wing to restore flight. Herbert uses a technical term for repair, not spiritual abstraction.

Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
Source Wikipedia Poetry Foundation

Reading Notes

The Shape Does the Work

Herbert designed this poem to be read as a visual object, not just heard. The lines compress toward the middle stanzas—"Most poore" and "Most thinne" are isolated, short lines that literally shrink on the page. Then they expand again. This isn't decoration; the form enacts the poem's argument about decay and restoration. You experience the diminishment before you understand it intellectually.

The poem appears twice in the original manuscript, creating symmetry. This repetition isn't redundant—it's structural. The first version describes Adam's fall and humanity's general condition; the second personalizes it ("My tender age"). By repeating the pattern, Herbert shows that personal suffering mirrors cosmic fall, and personal resurrection mirrors Christ's victory. The shape insists on this connection.

Herbert's Specific Problem: Sickness as Theology

CONTEXT Herbert lived 1593-1633, plagued by illness his entire adult life. He was ordained late, served as a country parson, and died at 39. His poems obsess over physical suffering as evidence of God's presence, not absence.

"Easter Wings" uses falconry vocabulary ("imp," "wing," "flight") to make suffering technical rather than sentimental. When Herbert says "if I imp my wing on thine," he's not pleading—he's describing a procedure. The speaker grafts his damaged wing onto Christ's intact one. This is concrete theology: affliction becomes the instrument of ascent, not its opposite.

The repeated refrain—"affliction shall advance the flight in me"—isn't resignation. It's a claim that suffering is *fuel*, not obstacle. For Herbert, this wasn't metaphor. He lived this logic: illness proved God was working on him, shaping him toward resurrection.