User:Hmvia/sandbox

Synopsis[edit]
"The Collar" portrays a man who is relaying a previous struggle he's had with his faith. The poem begins with the speaker striking a board, the physical outburst is then followed quickly by a verbal one, as the speaker declares that he, "...will abroad!", or leave this place. The speaker questions his religious commitment, which hasn't brought him the fulfillment he seeks. He realizes he can lead a life which will yield “double” the pleasures he sought while living as a Christian. The speaker announces that his life will be as “free as the road” and as “loose as the wind”, meaning that he plans to live boundlessly, without restriction. The speaker admits there were things which he did treasure, but his sadness and lack of appreciation ruined each one. The speaker asks if there is anything of beauty left, wonders if he is alone in this loss, and laments that he has nothing to show for the life he has lived for God.

The speaker then decides to abandon this state of pining and misery, to no longer worry about living a pious life. He chooses instead to live only for himself, instead of occupying this "cage" that he has seemingly made of his own doing; he claims this cage was built upon “petty thoughts”, meaning that God himself did not place the speaker in the cage, but rather the speaker placed himself there by believing in a false spirituality.

The speaker again tells himself to "abroad", to leave this life behind. He assures himself that he will make preparations by “tying up” his fears, so that they do not hang over him any longer. He claims that anyone who would choose to serve God the way he chose, “deserves” the load he bears as a result. The speaker begins to rave then, flying into a mad state of anger, when something calms him. The speaker hears a voice call, "Child!" and the man immediately calms himself, replies to the voice with the simple acknowledgement: "My Lord". The speaker has recognized God's presence, feels chided and immediately subservient once again. His ravings are forgotten once God shows himself to the speaker, proving that his commitment to religion has not been fruitless after all.

Analysis[edit]
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 title may also refer to the term "to slip the collar" or to slip out and avoid the restraints of the church.

Herbert is portraying that the collar is a form of restraint for priests and a play on words, conveying that the collar can be seen as one for a slave to it, or rather to Christianity. A collar, after all, is a restrictive garment, often a symbol of ownership. One journal article, Herbert's "The Collar": A Nautical Metaphor, written by Paul M. Levitt and Kenneth G. Johnston, introduces the idea that the use of the word "collar" by Herbert can be see- in a nautical sense- as the rope that supports and maintains the main mast of a ship, preventing it from moving from its position.

Levitt and Johnston compare the poem's speaker to the mast of a ship, and the collar of the ship to a clerical collar: each are being held in place by restraints.

There is also the possibility that the poem uses the title sonically, because "collar" sounds like the word "caller" or "choler." Dale B. J. Randall points out that this poem is a story of a choleric man who has a burst of strong emotion, connecting the illness to the line "...But as I raved and grew more fierce and wild...". Randall also points out that the pun pertaining to "caller" is the idea that the "caller" is God, who is calling on the speaker in the line, "Me thought I heard one calling Child..." at the end of the poem.

Barbara Leah Harman points out in her journal, The Fiction of Coherence: George Herbert's "The Collar"  that the beginning of the poem starts at the end of a man's journey, and the beginning of a new one. The speaker within the poem isn't a "present-tense speaker", but a "duplicator of present-tense speech." Harman explains the speaker has reaped what he has sown, and the poem signifies the use of the word "harvest" as metaphorical, meaning the fruit of his labor has not been bountiful.

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?

In the first six lines, the reader is clued in to the conflict; a man struggling with his faith. The speaker has decided to abroad, or to abandon his current life. In another poem by George Herbert titled "Content", the speaker warns himself to avoided 'abroading" and listening to his "muttering thoughts". Herbert's poetry often follows this theme; man's relationship to his faith.

The speaker declares that, "My lines and life are free, free as the road, loose as the wind..."(lines 3-4) meaning that the restraints that he has aren't physical, but spiritual and he is considering why he should remain in God's service. He is declaring that there is a whole world beyond the life he's currently living, and much to experience. The man is yearning earthly desires, and has been blinded by the fact that God has not provided the riches he feels he deserves.

The use of the words, "no more" introduce the man feeling as if he has experienced too much turmoil, but now feels angry enough to leave the life he is presently living. He declares, "I will abroad!"

Levitt and Johnston make the claim that the word "board" is meant to represent the deck of a ship. However, Dale B. J. Randall points out that the use of the word could be multi-layered, the most sensible option being a communion table. Daniel Rubey backs this idea, pointing out in "The Poet and the Christian Community: Herbert's Affliction Poems and the Structure of The Temple" that the board that the speaker strikes in the first line may indeed be correlated to a Communion table, keeping with the religious theme of the poem.

Have I no harvest but a thorn

To let me blood, and not restore

What I have lost with cordial fruit?

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.

In lines seven through fifteen, the speaker is explaining that his harvest, or his work, hasn't produced the kind of abundance that he desires. The line, "Have I no harvest but a thorn..." relates to the Bible verse Jeremiah 12:13 "They will sow wheat but reap thorns; they will wear themselves out but gain nothing. They will bear the shame of their harvest..." That is to say, the speaker is questioning why he hasn't received this reward which he feels he has earned through his dedication to God. He admits reluctantly that there was some type of payment, "Sure there was wine...there was corn..." (Lines 10-11) but these payments were washed away by his inability to be grateful for such things. Wine and corn may symbolize bread and wine used in Communion, which calls back to the image of the speaker slamming his hand down on a communion table.

In line thirteen, the speaker wonders, "...the year only lost to me?", showing that he is questioning if he is the only one not receiving God's favor. By this point the speaker has become so concerned with his desire for freedom that he gets lost in the idea of being a slave to God; he forgets that while following God means to bear a burden, it is not one which is difficult or impossible. This alludes to the Bible verse Matthew 11: 30 "For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."

Not so, my heart; but there is fruit,

And thou hast hands.

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.

In lines sixteen through twenty-seven, the speaker discusses other ways to enjoy life's pleasures, and how he can achieve them on his own. He appears to be convincing himself that there are other, better ways of living than the life which he has chosen for himself. The speaker no longer seems concerned with being sinful or sinless. He decides to end his avoidance of "double pleasures", which he couldn't partake in because of his faith. He seems less concerned with what is right or wrong anymore, and determined to forsake the ties which bind him to a life of religious servitude.

The line, "While thou didst wink and wouldst not see" May connect to the Bible verse,"Who winks with their eye is plotting perversity; whoever purses their lips is bent on evil." ( Proverbs 16:30). The speaker may be insinuating that these thoughts have been building over time, and his plot to desert his religion has been growing in his mind until now; the breaking point.

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,

Me thought I heard one calling, Child!

And I replied My Lord.

In this section, the speaker refers to a memento mori, a figure which exists as a reminder of the fact that death comes for all in the end. The speaker is aware that he is not immortal, and this realization inspires him to seek fulfillment while he is physically present on earth.

He decides to "tie up his fears" or reign them in, so they can no longer hang over him and threaten his happiness. He then declares that those who would sacrifice their personal desires and ambitions to commit to a life of servitude "deserve" the load they bear; this judgment seems to be a criticism upon himself for not abandoning his religion sooner.

As his ravings increase in intensity, his dedication to this new decision more solidified, it seems the speaker will never calm himself. Then he hears the voice of God calling to him; "Child!"

Michael Martin explains in Herbert and the Phenomenology of Grace that the speaker didn't hear from God because of his decision to stray away from Him, or because he spoke against Him, but because of God's grace; his desire to comfort the speaker is what motivated the gentle admonishment. Martin explains that this immediate forgiveness of the speaker's outcry against God is meant to show His boundless grace. Martin also points out that Hebert purposefully rhymes "word" with "Lord" in order to show that the speaker finds immediate comfort in receiving nothing but a single word from God

In "Logos in The Temple: George Herbert and the Shape of Content" R. L. Colie discusses the idea of f "muteness with grace" or becoming silent after seeing or hearing from God. Colie explains the speaker has no difficulty in defying God, speaking against him and discarding the sanctity of communion, but with one word from God, the speaker is placated.

In the end, the man regains his faith in the Lord because he realizes he is not shouting into an abyss; God hears him, and that is all the speaker needs to know to re-enter his life of servitude. The speaker replies to God with the phrase, "My Lord", the possessive language signifying his spiritual dedication.