blog post 31, poetry response 6

The Collar

By George Herbert

 poetry response 6

This poem entices the idea of enlightenment that comes with adulthood. By using a "tantrum" like poetic texture the poem is very sporadic and all over the place; such as with the inconsistent stanzas and very quick shifting ideals and points. An example is "shall i be still in suit? have i no harvest but thorn.." keeping a very basic skeleton of an idea with very bipolar emotional shifts in the writers understanding of the situation.

 As the poem goes on it is as if the writer is growing up with the progress of the poem. Realizing flaws in his actions, such as understanding that the world does not revolve around him with lines like "Before my sighs did dry it; there was corn..." and "is the year only lost to me?" this stanza is a childhood challenge that leads to a transition into adulthood.

The third stanzas is leading into a force that changes the writers perspective of his reality and is the leading force of a revelation of how a code or "law" to live his life by asking of a deity (mostly likely the God of the Bible by the 1600 catholic influences on Herbert) to "forsake thy cage" and "leave thy cold dispute" with the belief in this god pushing for the writers enlightenment. The last Stanza further proves this by making a revelation and " to suit and serve his need" means taking full belief in this God and in doing so builds a relationship of protect and serve for the betterment of the writers future. Examples to further this point are in lines 35 and 36 as the writer having God refer to him as "Child"

and The writer referencing his god as "My Lord."

This poem has a very unique and very enlightening revelation that gives great insight into how a man came about adulthood from his adolescence. It is unique in the sense that is what written almost as that of a child with the hard to follow points and the several emotional outbursts questioning reality. The enlightening portion of having a god bring about such a mass revalation of growing up is very intriguing and gives a very "father to son" feel about the poem and the necessary talks one father gives in order to do best by their children. A well constructed poem indeed!!!!