Easter Wings

While the poem is a celebration of the possibility and hope of redemption, it is also an expression of the “fallen” state of humankind. This should not be surprising, given Herbert’s Christian faith, and after all, only those who have fallen are in need of lifting up. As a result of the fall, sin entered the world and now taints every human being, making it hard for them to orient themselves toward God. The passages in “Easter Wings” in which Herbert describes his shrunken state when he (according to his own beliefs) has sinned and been punished for it, are typical of his verse. When this mood came upon him, he felt great anguish and suffering, and often appealed for God’s mercy. His poetry shows much self-criticism and spiritual struggle. He wrote no less than five poems titled “Affliction,” each of which presents his feelings when he is not in a right relationship with God or cut off from God completely. “Affliction (IV)” begins with a blunt confession of his own condition and an appeal to God: “Broken in pieces all asunder / Lord, hunt me not”; “Affliction (I)” tells of his sickness and grief in a little more detail than he offers in “Easter Wings”: